text:
Pool Noodle World Records

6 Records Found

01:14 United States

Longest Time To Hold A Musical Note While Riding A Skateboard And Balancing Pool Noodle On Head

Sierra Dwyer

Sierra Dwyer held a note for 19.44 seconds while riding a skateboard and balancing a pool noodle on her head.

00:18 United States

Most Hits To Someone's Head With A Pool Noodle In 10 Seconds

Aaron meadowcroft

Aaron Meadowcroft made 32 hits to someone’s head with a pool noodle for 10 seconds.

00:52 United States

Most Pool Noodles Fit In The Cargo Area Of A Prius

Prius Records

This record was set as part of Toyota Prius Records, a two-day event streamed live on the Internet. In a 48-hour period, URDB officials adjudicated 200 Prius-related world records. This was the most records ever documented in a 48-hour window, a world record in and of itself. The event took place in Los Angeles, California on March 30th and 31st, 2011. See all the records set at the event here.

Tallest Person To Drink Lemonade Through A Pool Noodle

Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt, six feet and six inches tall (78 inches), drank a lemonade through a pool noodle. He set the record at a RecordSetter LIVE! event held at Joe’s Pub[] in New York City. The event was a fundraiser for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research[]. [#RSLIVE22][]

00:52 United States

Most Hats Worn While Dancing On A Pool Noodle

Cody Peckham

Cody P. wore 21 hats while dancing with a pool noodle between his legs. He set the record during the Vaughn Hill Church Talent Show.

00:30 United States

Most Flash Kicks Hitting A Pool Noodle In 20 Seconds

Lysander "Stitch" Luansing Jr. of Victory Gymnastics Academy performed nine flash kicks hitting a pool noodle in 20 seconds. The record was set during National Gymnastics Day 2013 at Victory Gymnastics Academy in San Diego, California.

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  • [2010-02-09] Bioagent defeat in shock driven gas flow

    Chavez, Mario L.
    The problem of planar shock interaction with gas cylinders whose axis of symmetry is parallel to the plane of the shock has been well studied both experimentally and numerically, and in this case, the flow evolution driven ...

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text:
Commitment Status:Signed LOI

Eli Rogers

College Choices

School Interest Offer Visit Recruited by
LouisvilleCOMMITTED (12/20/2010)Offered12/10/2010Clint Hurtt
Florida Intl.NoneOfferedNone
Miami (FL)NoneOfferedNone
South FloridaNoneOfferedNone
UCFNoneOfferedNoneDavid Kelly

Latest News

2011 class made a huge impact01/30/2012 CardinalSports.com

With all of the excitement surrounding the 2012 recruiting class University of Louisville football coach Charlie Strong and his staff have put together, it is worth noting that last year's class more than lived up to its billing.

Recruits react to Brown and Dawson decisions01/09/2012CardinalSports.com
Louisville continues South Florida pipeline01/07/2012Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Brown set to make announcement01/01/2012Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Golden has eyes on recruiting south Florida02/23/2011Rivals.com College Football
Ranking the Big East by position02/12/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Top recruiters by conference02/08/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Nation's top 25 recruiters02/07/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Signing Day Blitz: Ranking the Big East02/03/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Tight battle for top spot in team rankings01/21/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Army Bowl: Winners and losers01/08/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Bridgewater explains decision01/07/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Under Armour game awards01/06/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Kicker is hero of UA game01/05/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Top talent still feels they have plenty to prove01/05/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
UA notes: Vaughters talks Stanford01/04/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Under Armour: Monday's best01/03/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
UA matchup: Red WR vs. White DB01/02/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Northwestern teammates commit to Louisville12/20/2010CardinalSports.com
Rogers feels at home in Louisville12/16/2010CardinalSports.com
Golden hits recruiting trail12/14/2010CaneSport.com
Rogers anticipates weekend trip to Louisville12/09/2010CardinalSports.com
All-star season kicking off12/01/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Sho Time: Recruiting takes center stage11/23/2010CaneSport.com
From the road: QB Starling shines11/22/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Weekend Watch: Best of the best11/18/2010RivalsHigh
Look Ahead: Playoff drama continues11/18/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Could Canes still land former commit?11/15/2010CaneSport.com
Rogers looking at six11/03/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
WR decommits from Canes10/17/2010CaneSport.com
Bush's team to play on ESPNU10/15/2010RebelGrove.com
Weekend watch: Holding the top spot10/14/2010RivalsHigh
Weekend watch: Put up or shut up10/07/2010RivalsHigh
Weekend watch: Replays rule the days09/30/2010RivalsHigh
WR is recruiting for Canes09/22/2010CaneSport.com
Cane commit has eye on record book08/27/2010CaneSport.com
Dade County's top 55 for 201108/16/2010PantherRage.com
Commit uses tourneys to recruit for UM07/22/2010CaneSport.com
Stewart has outstanding showing at 7on07/10/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
South Fla. squad earns BadgerSports title07/05/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Loaded BadgerSports event hits Tuscaloosa07/02/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Florida state ranking loaded with elite talent06/24/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
EXCLUSIVE: Canes land two commits06/04/2010CaneSport.com
Miami Northwestern trio to camp at RU?06/01/2010ScarletNation.com
DB: You never know what could happen05/28/2010CaneSport.com
Canes trying to hold off UF for local WR04/23/2010CaneSport.com
Video: Rogers in the clear04/08/2010Rivals.com
Miami Northwestern's Eli Rogers likes UF03/30/2010InsidetheGators.com
Miami Nike Camp: Breaking them down03/30/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Miami Nike Camp full of stars and surprises03/28/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Louisville tapping back into South Florida03/02/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Local WR just pulled in Cane offer02/22/2010CaneSport.com
Miami Northwestern star lands first offer02/21/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting


text:
Commitment Status:Signed LOI

Jamar Thomas

Rivals Rating2 stars

no rating no rating no rating
Rivals Rating 5.4 About
Running Back
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
University Laboratory School
View Map
  • Ht:5'11"
  • Wt:195 lbs
  • 40:4.62 secs
  • Bench Max:340
  • Bench Reps:21
  • Squat Max:550
  • Shuttle:4.48
  • Vertical:30 inches
  • Class:2010 (High School)

College Choices

School Interest Offer Visit Recruited by
TulaneCOMMITTED (07/17/2009)OfferedNoneGreg Jackson, Greg Davis Jr.
LA MonroeNoneOfferedNone
Southern MissNoneNone
Texas A&MNoneNone

Latest News

Red Stick Bowl features best in B.R.12/16/2009 PelicanPreps.com

Many of the Capital Area's top senior football players will participate in one last high school football game thus Saturday in the eighth annual U.S. Army Red Stick Bowl. Click here to see the rosters and read who has scholarship offers.

Diverse running back chooses Wave07/17/2009TheWaveReport.com
Baton Rouge NUC Hot 1103/03/2009Rivals.com Football Recruiting


text:
North Carolina

Commitment Status:Solid Verbal

Joel Berry

Rivals Rating4 stars

no rating 27 no rating
Rivals Rating About
MORE RANKINGSRivals150 Member
Rankings index »

College Choices

School Interest Offer Visit Recruited by
N. CarolinaCOMMITTED (01/22/2013)OfferedNone
Florida St.NoneOfferedNone
Miami (FL)NoneOfferedNone
Ohio St.NoneOfferedNone

Latest News

Class of 2014 Team Recruiting Rankings04/25/2014 Basketball Recruiting

Thanks in part to landing the nation's top prospect in Jahlil Okafor, stands atop the final 2014 team recruiting rankings.

McDonald's AA: West looks to be best04/02/ Basketball Recruiting
Berry enjoying McDonald's experience04/01/
McDonald's game: Practice03/31/ Basketball Recruiting
Jordan Brand Classic Roster Announced03/10/
Berry stars in Raleigh Holiday event01/03/
LaRue watches Ingram score 2312/27/
High School OT tourney: Booker, Woods shine12/27/ Basketball Recruiting
Stars come out at HSOT Day One12/26/
Signing Day Breakdown11/13/
Berry inks with Tar Heels11/13/
Mailbag: It's Tubby time10/25/ Basketball Recruiting
Elite 24 Teams & Updated Rosters Announced08/19/
AAU Championships and Showcase: What We Learned07/29/ Basketball Recruiting
Jackson on UNC teammates, future07/26/
Future Tar Heels star at AAU Super Showcase07/25/ Basketball Recruiting
Improving Berry is learning how to win07/20/
Brown plays like a five-star07/20/ Basketball Recruiting
Each 1 Teach 1 delivers lessons07/15/ Basketball Recruiting
Week in Review: June 17-2306/25/
Mitchell having strong summer06/20/
NC Standouts at NBA Top100 Camp06/18/
Joel Berry Honored to be at Top 10006/18/
NBPA Thursday early recap06/13/ Basketball Recruiting
Pinson picks UNC05/22/ Basketball Recruiting
Newman steps up game in EYBL05/12/ Basketball Recruiting
Boo Williams: What we learned04/30/ Basketball Recruiting
Jones stars on Saturday at Boo Williams04/27/
Point guards on parade at EYBL04/27/ Basketball Recruiting
2014 Russell Receives UNC Offer04/12/
Young visiting again, Randle in news again03/06/
Heels land second from 201403/04/ Basketball Recruiting
Coming to Commit?02/28/
Joel Berry: A Coaches' Perspective02/21/
Onsite with Joel Berry Part II02/04/
Mailbag: USC working to keep prospect02/02/ Basketball Recruiting
Joel Berry---Inside the Game02/01/
Onsite with Joel Berry01/31/
Berry Chooses Tar Heels01/21/
Weekend Windup: 1/1801/17/
Five-Star Hill assisting Florida off the court01/16/
City of Palms: Chester on a run12/19/ Basketball Recruiting
Previewing the City of Palms Classic12/18/
City of Palms, Tarkanian Classic loaded12/18/ Basketball Recruiting
High priority PG: `I love coach L'12/14/
Donovan checks in on top guard12/02/
In Hot Pursuit11/29/
Midnight Madness Visitor List10/12/
Madness: First practices bring out star prospects10/12/ Basketball Recruiting
PG recruit: UM cares about its players10/11/
Weekend brings commitment frenzy09/24/ Basketball Recruiting
UK targets highlight new 2014 Rivals150 rankings09/05/
In-state guard has Florida's attention08/17/
Berry talks Tar Heel offer08/06/
Berry's Big Summer08/03/
Orlando AAU: What we learned07/30/ Basketball Recruiting
Gaining separation at Showcase07/26/ Basketball Recruiting
Peach Jam: Guards leading the way07/21/ Basketball Recruiting
Wiggins retains top spot in 2014 rankings07/06/ Basketball Recruiting
Jay Henderson Gaining Offers06/22/
Top talents prepare for Team USA training camp06/14/
Canes getting competition for standout PG05/30/
Recruitment of Joel Berry Escalates05/19/
VIDEO: Top 2014 point guard talks recruiting05/17/
VIDEO: Joel Berry stock rising05/16/
Dallas EYBL Tar Heel Notebook05/14/
Saturday standouts in Dallas05/13/ Basketball Recruiting
4-star PG: I'm one of UM's top recruits04/20/
2014 Intro: Joel Berry04/19/
ITG Basketball Prospects Overview03/28/
Basketball recruiting forecast01/09/
2014 PG has an early offer: It's from Canes11/09/
USA Basketball: Sunday stars10/17/ Basketball Recruiting
Hoop Mountain: Top 10 performers07/12/
EYBL session off to fast start in L.A.05/29/ Basketball Recruiting
Stars come out at Boo Williams04/09/ Basketball Recruiting


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Wednesday News

Good Morning Conflucians!!

Let’s dive in with a hodgepodge of unrelated news items. First up, Adam Savage from Mythbusters had a funny experience with TSA where they saw his junk but missed the razor blades:

Savage was put through the full-body scanner, and while he joked that it made his penis feel small, no one seemed to notice the items he was carrying on his person.

If the TSA thinks you can hijack a plane with saline solution and nail clippers, Savage’s 12″ razor blades are the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Since the blades weren’t anywhere near Savage’s privates, they likely would have been missed by the pat-down as well.

Follow the link for a video of Adam discussing it. So the gate rape is not only demeaning and horrifying and a direct assault to our constitution, but it’s a complete waste of time. Oh, by the way, gate rape is now in the Urban Dictionary.

Not much of a surprise, but we’re headed to S. Korea for war games:

A US aircraft carrier is heading for the Korean peninsula a day after North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire on a border island that left two South Korean soldiers dead.

The USS George Washington, which carries 75 warplanes and has a crew of over 6,000, left a naval base south of Tokyo on Wednesday morning and would join exercises with South Korea from Sunday, US officials in Seoul said.

“This exercise is defensive in nature,” US Forces Korea said in a statement. “While planned well before yesterday’s unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates the strength of the ROK (South Korea)-US alliance and our commitment to regional stability through deterrence.”

The US has 28,000 troops based in South Korea.

Let’s hope nothing stupid happens. Well, N. Korea has already done that. Let’s hope nothing else stupid happens.

In case you haven’t heard, the world as we know it almost came to an end last night. Continue reading

Wednesday News

Good Morning Conflucians!!

It’s hump day, and there are many blue meanies about. Watch out for glovey-dovey especially as he will tend to “point, and having pointed, POUNCE!” And remember how the Obots, um, I mean blue meanies were commanded: “Go get thee hence, and destroy yon upstarts. SMASH THEM, SQUASH THEM, CRUSH THEM! O-BLUE-terate them!” Why all the blue references, well yesterday (no pun intended) Apple Corps decided to come into the modern age and put their catalog out for digital download. Apple Inc. is having a big event and have what is quite a nice concert available free online. It’s from their first US concert at the Washington Coliseum in 1964. Go listen, before the blue meanies stomp it out. Here’s an article pointing out how stupid it has been to wait this long:

The Beatles, their surviving heirs and their misguided management finally turned in their Flat Earth Society membership cards Tuesday, allowing the sale of their music as digital downloads on Apple’s iTunes Store. La-dee-freakin’-da.

I’m sorry, were you expecting congratulations here?

This absurdly overdue development happened shortly before 10 a.m. – slightly in advance of the vague prediction posted on Apple’s home page Monday.

I have to agree. There was no reason to wait this long, and the sales will be nothing what they would have been a few years ago. What have they been smoking in Pepperland?

And speaking of, the other tribe of blue meanies are getting nasty and are trying to squash the new arms treaty efforts with Russia:

One of President Obama’s top foreign-policy goals suffered a potentially ruinous setback Friday when the Senate’s second-ranking Republican said the U.S. nuclear treaty with Russia should not be considered until next year.

The statement by Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) stunned the White House and Democrats, who scrambled to save the pact. It came just days after Obama declared that ratifying the treaty was his top foreign-policy priority for the lame-duck session of Congress.

SoS Clinton is weighing in Continue reading

Wednesday News

Good Morning Conflucians!!

The aftermath of last weeks election is still being felt. In fact, it’s not over yet. The Senate race in Alaska is still being counted. Regardless of whether the winner is Miller or Murkowski, the seat will be held by a Republican. But it will certainly be interesting to see who won. Both because of the tea party angle and because of the possibility of a write-in candidate winning. The latter outcome would be very interesting and perhaps eye opening to many citizens of the country. The fact that we don’t have to take the two choices given to us would be refreshing. Everyone seems to be talking about it including WaPo, Politico, and Reuters among, well, everyone. And of course as you’d expect, the lawyers are at the ready. Miller has already launched one lawsuit requiring that Murkowski name be spelled correctly and exactly as it is registered. That’s silly as the law clearly gives leeway to counters to determine intent. Some of the legal fun from WaPo:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) both urged supporters to donate money to Miller’s legal fund, in part to send enough lawyers and monitors to Juneau. In Anchorage, tea party supporters pooled their frequent-flier miles in hopes of sending about a dozen volunteers to be trained as official observers.

Murkowski, meanwhile, has reportedly hired lawyer Ben Ginsberg, who represented George W. Bush in the 2000 recount fight and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in his 2008 recount battle in Minnesota.

Miller has also argued that the law requires Murkowski’s name to be spelled properly, though election officials ruled that misspellings are okay as long as the voter’s “intent” is clear – a subjective standard that could lead to a litany of disputes.

Continue reading

Wednesday News

I lifted this from the Black Agenda Report!!!

So apparently we had a little election yesterday. Let’s recap the story so far. We had this lovely hopeful Democratic party ready to put the Bush years behind them, roll up their sleeves, and get to work fixing the damage. Much the same way the Clinton’s did in the 90’s. But along the way, a complete unknown with no experience, and no real drive to do anything substantive, including bothering to vote for important policies, who had more funding than all of the well known candidates combined, from wall street, banks, and insurance companies funnily enough, made his way through the primaries, making a pathetic disaster of every debate by losing every one in the worst way, and got selected in a smoke filled back room, without even a roll call vote. Along the way, the base of the party who actually elected another candidate were told to suck it up or leave. Preferably leave. And of course, as most any candidate that wasn’t Bush would do, this guy became President. Then over the next two years he proceeded to do exactly the kinds of things he did in his previous career. Play golf, party, get others to do his work for him, and do pretty much what his backers wanted. Mostly he just golfed and really didn’t give a damn. Apparently, many of the “little people” expected a bit more out of him. Silly little people. And so, they got angry. They still hate the party of Bush, make no mistake about it, but now they hate this new group just as much, and yesterday they sent a little message.

For a good look at the races across the country, the NYT has great interactive maps. The main ones to look at are those for Senate, House, and Governor races. As you can see from those maps, especially the House map, we have a proverbial bloodbath. Especially important for 2012 is the Governor results. Notice that the important battleground states of PA, OH, and FL now have Republican governors. That will become more important for the next cycle because of get out the vote efforts, redistricting, among others.

CBS has an interesting article on why Democrats lost:

Core Democratic groups stayed away in droves Tuesday, costing Democratic House candidates dearly at the polls.

Hispanics, African Americans, union members and young people were among the many core Democratic groups that turned out in large numbers in the 2008 elections, propelling Mr. Obama and Democratic House candidates to sizable victories. In 2010, turnout among these groups dropped off substantially, even below their previous midterm levels.

Voters under the age of 30 comprised 18 percent of the electorate in 2008 and nearly 13 percent in 2006 but only made up 11 percent of the electorate in 2010. The share of voters from union households dropped from 23 percent in 2006 and 21 percent in 2008 to 17 percent in 2010. African Americans made up 13 percent of the electorate in 2008 but fell to 10 percent in 2010. Such apathy likely cost the Democrats House seats as voters in each of these groups cast ballots for Democratic House candidates by at least 15 point margins.

Mr. Obama proved to be a major liability in the 2010 election. Fifty-five percent of voters disapproved of the way the president is handling his job, including 58 percent of independents. Of those who disapproved of Obama, 86 percent voted for a Republican House candidate. Even more to the point, 37 percent of voters overall, as well as 37 percent of independents, claimed a reason for their House vote was to express opposition to Mr. Obama.

Voters were no happier with the Democratic-controlled Congress. A whopping 72 percent of voters disapproved of the way Congress is handling its job, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents. Of those who evaluated Congress negatively, 64 percent preferred a Republican House candidate to a Democratic House candidate in their local race.

It does go on to talk about the mixed message that the voters don’t really like Republican’s either.

After the resounding defeat, Obama gave a call to John Boehner, soon to be the new speaker of the House, to congratulate him:

He phoned the presumptive next House speaker, John Boehner, to offer congratulations. Boehner says the two agreed to work together, even though Republicans have vowed to turn back much of Obama’s agenda.

The Ohio Republican says they talked about working together on the priorities of the American people, and Boehner says he defined those priorities as cutting spending and creating jobs.

Hey, create jobs. Now there’s an idea. Too bad no one thought of that before.

Now brush yourself off, because today begins the Presidential campaign season for 2012.

We’ll keep this short since there is still a lot happening in a few last races, and we’ll update as we learn more, and as others do the inevitable blaming of the Clinton’s or pretending it’s not such a big deal after all. You know they will. Chime in with what you’re seeing outside of the election as well.

Sunday News – All Hallow’s Eve Edition

Happy Halloween Conflucians!! What are you dressing as today and tonight? I hope you all have a great Halloween.

Other than bats in the belfry, let’s see what else is spooky out there. Some fun yesterday was the Steward/Colbert rally yesterday. I quite liked Jon’s sentiment at the end. He basically echoed what we’ve been saying for a long time. Namely that all this crap and mud slinging and race baiting and nastiness on both sides is causing great harm. He called progressives out as much as he called wingers out. Which was such a change where we tend to only ever see wingers called out and hardly ever progressives called out except here and a few other places. More of that please. It was also nice to see his message of hope about how real Americans are out there working together and get things done, unlike people in washington or in the MSM. I liked it. Here’s a bit of the Miami Herald’s take:

“This is not . . . to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do,” Stewart said as he turned serious in his closing remarks. “But we live now in hard times, not end times. We can have animus and not be enemies.”

He lambasted the cable TV news mentality that amplifies outrageous statements, stokes fear and seeks out confrontation, singling out the left-wing media for equating tea partyers with racists and the right-wing media for “the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims.”

“The press can hold its magnifying class up to our problems,” he said. “Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire. . . . The press is our immune system. If they overreact to everything we get sicker.”

The message struck a chord with the large throng of people; the National Park Service no longer provides official estimates of crowds, but the National Mall was densely packed with many tens of thousands of people.

“It’s the first time a message like this has resonated with me,” said Jonathan Dugan, 37, a product engineer who flew from San Francisco to stand on the mall on a sunny fall afternoon. “We need to get people to talk to each other in a meaningful way.”

So as you’d expect, politics is in much of the news. WaPo has a bit about Obama’s “closing arguments” for the election:

Obama laid out a sharp contrast between his party’s agenda and the GOP, saying that Republicans have done little but play politics as his party has made hard choices to revive the economy, change the health-care system and regulate the finanical industry.

“We don’t want to relive the past. We’ve tried what their selling and we’re not buying,” he said. “We’re not going back.”

While Obama told supporters that the election two years ago wasn’t about him, Democrats are betting that his lingering appeal among first time voters, African-Americans and Hispanics will boost turnout – in Philadelphia volunteers handed out leaflets with a picture of Obama and his wife on one side and a plug for Rep. Joe Sestak, running for the Senate, and Dan Onorato, who is running for governor, on the other side. Polls show Onorato trailing behind Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, and Sestak gaining ground on former Republican congressman Pat Toomey.

But the best part, and why I didn’t think of this before, he’s now out talking about, wait for it, party unity after the election, sort of:

Whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s election, it’s time to put aside partisanship, President Obama is telling Democrats and Republicans.

Yet his appeal for unity includes a jab at GOP leaders in the House and Senate for comments that the president said were troubling.

House minority leader John Boehner of Ohio “actually said that ‘this is not the time for compromise,’ ’’ Obama said yesterday in his weekly radio and Internet address. The president added that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky “said his main goal after this election is simply to win the next one.’’

The address was released shortly before Obama left Washington for a day of campaigning in Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Conn., and Chicago. The three states have competitive House and Senate races, as does Ohio, where the president was slated to hold a rally today in Cleveland.

In the weekly Republican address, Boehner said Obama has failed to deliver the change he promised. The man who probably would become House speaker if Republicans win control of the chamber also promoted party pledges to cut spending and keep taxes at current levels.

Meanwhile Bill Clinton is out campaigning his ass off. He was in Youngstown yesterday:

Clinton spoke to a crowd of 1,800 to 2,000 people, most of whom stood rather than sit during his speech, at Mr. Anthony’s.

The former president urged the audience to vote and urge others to do the same for the Democratic slate, particularly Gov. Ted Strickland.

“Where’s the enthusiasm gap? Where is it?” yelled Yvette McGee Brown, the Democratic lieutenant governor nominee. “You guys do us proud. We are winning on Tuesday because of you! I just want to tell you, this has been a long year. There are people who counted us out just like people counted out the Valley.”

National polls have shown that those most likely to vote lean Republican.

But Strickland said momentum is swinging in favor of Democrats at the right time.

Republicans “won this race in August,” he said. “We’re going to win this race in November, when it really counts.”

And Bill is returning to Orlando to help Meeks again in his campaign. You know, the guy the media lied about and said Bill pushed out of the race, even though everyone disagreed before they ran those stories. The Miami Herald article includes some of that:

Clinton will join Meek and the state’s other major Democratic Party candidates at a last-minute voter rally Monday night in Orlando, the Democratic Senate candidate’s campaign said Saturday.

The announcement comes after two days of media reports over whether Clinton privately asked Meek to step aside and endorse Crist, who left the Republican party to run as an independent. Meek and Clinton have denied those reports, even those confirmed by Clinton’s spokesman.

Both Meek and Crist trail Rubio, the tea party-backed Republican. To win, Crist would need at least some of the Democrats who plan to vote for Meek.

Meek has accused Crist of starting the rumors about Clinton and says Crist directly asked him to withdraw.

“I think he’s a nice guy, but I don’t think that that plays a role and I think it’s wrong to try to paint me into the corner and say that I’m the reason why he’s not winning,” Meek told reporters at Wilton Manors city hall, where he and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz were courting early voters. “I don’t blame the position of my campaign at any time on any other opponent.”

It was Meek’s only public event Saturday. He was resting up for 24 hours of nonstop campaigning across much of the state, beginning Sunday night in Tampa.

Meek said the rumors about him possibly dropping out of the three-way race have energized his supporters.

“What some meant for bad ended up being for good. People are now awakened of their responsibility to get out to vote,” he said. “Because now the ant bed has been kicked. Folks are highly disappointed.”

The other big news of the day was the apparent terrorist plot to blow up some synagogues in the Chicago area. It’s now being reported that Yemen has made some arrests:

Yemen has arrested a female student suspected of mailing the explosive parcels from the country to the US that sparked a global security alert, sources say.

The arrest took place on Saturday in the capital, Sanaa, after security forces surrounded a house where the suspect was hiding.

The woman’s lawyer said she was a “quiet student” with no known links of religious or political groups. Her mother was also detained, but was not a prime suspect, the lawyer said.

A Yemeni security official said the woman, a medical student in her 20s, had been traced through a telephone number she left with a cargo company.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, confirmed her arrest, saying: “Yemen is determined to fight terror but will not allow anyone to intervene in its affairs.”

Security officials have been on high alert since the UK and the United Arab Emirates intercepted two packages containing explosive material that were being shipped by air from Yemen to synagogues in Chicago.

Who’s to know if that person really had anything to do with anything. They need an arrest and need it now. I’m not sure the truth really matters. But we’ll watch the events unfold. BBC has a list of Sunday papers with stories on this issue.

In other news of the world, Brazil is having elections, and with all the economic problems, the main race is about which candidate is the crazier religious wacko:

The pocketbook is battling the pulpit in Brazil’s presidential elections Sunday, as government candidate Dilma Rousseff faces opposition leader Jose Serra in a runoff election to lead this burgeoning economic power of 190 million people.

Issues that most Brazilians thought didn’t belong in national politics — in particular, abortion — have taken center stage, and both candidates are catering to the concerns of evangelical and Roman Catholic voters.

By abandoning her previous public stance on liberalizing the country’s anti-abortion laws, and attending church before the television cameras, Rousseff, a former atheist, appears to have outmaneuvered Serra. A national poll Thursday night gave her a 13-point advantage over the former governor of Sao Paulo state.

That’s some crazy shit. And I thought my congressional race was bad.

That’s a bit of what’s in the news. Chime in with what you’re doing for Halloween and what else you’re finding in the news.

Wednesday News

Good Morning Conflucians!!

We start off the morning with a real stunner. Virginia Thomas called up Anita Hill and left a message that it’d be just find and dandy if Anita would admit she’s a liar and apologize:

A spokesman for the university confirmed that Hill turned the message over Monday to the school’s Department of Public Safety.

“And they in turn informed the FBI,” said Andrew Gully, senior vice president of communications and external affairs. “They felt it was appropriate thing to do.”

At the university, Hill is a professor of social policy, law and women’s studies. Hill became a household name and the subject of a national conversation about sexual harassment after her explosive testimony at Thomas’ contentious confirmation hearings in 1991. On Tuesday, Hill said she had nothing to apologize for.

“I certainly thought the call was inappropriate,” Hill said in a statement. “I have no intention of apologizing because I testified truthfully about my experience and I stand by that testimony.”

Thomas’ message was first reported by ABC News, which obtained a transcript:

“Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.”

Virginia Thomas confirmed the message.

“The offer still stands,” she told ABC News in a statement.

Apparently WTF week continues. What nerve. That sadly brings back all those memories of the intense sexism and misogyny surrounding that incident and how shocking it was that most in the media and government sided with the sex offender, now justice Thomas. I bet Harry Reid likes him too. Maybe he’s one of his pets as well.

As mentioned by myiq last night, the big story being pushed of late is O’Donnell’s disbelief that the separation of church and state can be found in the First Amendment. You could interpret that to mean she was asking if that particular phrase was in there, of course it’s not, or if the discussion were more broad. O’Donnell now is of course siding with just the particular phrase. Here’s more:

During Tuesday’s debate, O’Donnell and Coons were arguing over the teaching-of-Creationism thing when Coons said that one of the “indispensable principles” of the Founding Fathers was “separation of church of state.”

“Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” said O’Donnell in reply, drawing gasps from a crowd composed largely of law students and professors.

A few minutes later, Coons returned to the subject, saying the First Amendment establishes the separation between church and state.

“The First Amendment does?” said O’Donnell. “You’re telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?”

After the debate, O’Donnell did not respond to reporters asking her to clarify her remarks. Her campaign manager, Matt Moran, later issued a statement saying that she was not questioning the concept of separation of church and state. “She simply made the point that the phrase appears nowhere in the Constitution,” Mr. Moran said.

We report, you decide. OK, couldn’t resist that. To me it looks like she didn’t mean that exact phrase but instead thinks the state can impose religion, hence being for teaching creationism. Here’s a bit more:

O’Donnell is not the only conservative Republican Senate candidate with “tea party” support who has raised the issue of what the First Amendment means. In Nevada, Sharron Angle has taken a point of view similar to that of her Delaware compatriot.

In an interview earlier this year, Ms. Angle said that Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father credited with originating the phrase “separation of church and state,” has been misunderstood on this matter.

“Thomas Jefferson was actually addressing a church and telling them through his address that there had been a wall of separation put up between the church and the state precisely to protect the church from being taken over by a state religion,” said Angle to Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston. “That’s what they meant by that. They didn’t mean we couldn’t bring our values to the political forum.”

It sounds like some of the justifications that make their way around the circuit for teaching creationism and for pushing religion on us through the government.

Because of the recent ruling that DADT is unconstitutional, the military is now forced to consider openly gay recruits. Of course Obama is moving fast to stop this as we all know:

The military is accepting openly gay recruits for the first time in the nation’s history.

The historic move follows a series of decisions by US District Court Judge Virginia Phillips, who ruled last month that the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ law targeting openly gay service members violates their equal protection and First Amendment rights. Yesterday, Phillips rejected the government’s effort to delay her order that halted enforcement of the 17-year policy.

Government lawyers are expected to appeal her decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco.

In the meantime, the Defense Department has said it will comply with Phillips’s order and had frozen discharge cases. Cynthia Smith, Pentagon spokeswoman, said recruiters had been given top-level guidance to accept applicants who say they are gay.

At least two service members discharged for being gay began the process to reenlist after the Pentagon’s announcement yesterday.

Recruiters also have been told to inform potential recruits that the moratorium on enforcement of the policy could be reversed at any time, if the ruling is appealed or the court grants a stay, she said.

Still, supporters of gay rights hailed the military’s decision.

“Gay people have been fighting for equality in the military since the 1960s,’’ said Aaron Belkin, executive director of the Palm Center, a think tank on gays and the military at the University of California Santa Barbara. “It took a lot to get to this day.’’

The White House has insisted its actions in court do not diminish President Obama’s efforts to repeal the ban. In their request for a stay, government lawyers argue Phillips’s order would be disruptive to troops serving at a time of war.

They say the military needs time to prepare new regulations and train and educate service members about the change.

Phillips has said her order does not prohibit the Pentagon from implementing those measures.

So on the one hand, it’s great that the judge ruled that way and for the most part it appears the military will comply. But it’s very sad that Obama is working to overturn the ruling. Of course it’s not at all surprising Obama would want to do this given the people he has surrounded himself with for many years, esp. religious leaders, but also senior staff and advisors who think it’s only a lifestyle choice.

It appears we have some interesting activity between the FED and the banks, and perhaps the recent stock market drop has to do with some of that:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has joined a group of investors demanding that Bank of America buy back billions of dollars worth of mortgage securities that are plagued with shoddy documentation and lending standards, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some of the most powerful investment groups in the country as well as the New York arm of the central bank are accusing one of Bank of America’s major mortgage divisions of cutting corners when it was issuing mortgages during the housing boom and as it has been foreclosing on struggling borrowers during the bust.

If Bank of America refuses to comply, these investors could end up suing, a person familiar with the matter said.

The demand from the New York Fed and other investors sets up an unusual and high-stakes confrontation, pitting an arm of the federal government against the country’s biggest bank. It also illustrates conflicting policy priorities, because it could put the Fed at odds with a bank the Treasury Department has been helping through the financial crisis over the past two years.

With this new confrontation, the government finds itself in the awkward position of being an unhappy private investor pressing for its rights to be enforced. The New York Fed holds roughly $16 billion of mortgage securities that it acquired after it bailed out American International Group.

On Tuesday, Bank of America dismissed concerns that investors will drag the bank into court for years with costly lawsuits.

“We don’t see the issues that people [are] worried about, quite frankly,” chief executive Brian Moynihan said in a conference call Tuesday as the bank reported a $7.3 billion third-quarter loss.

Sure, nothing to worry about. Nothing to see here. Go about your business. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Business Week has some coverage of this as well:

The action follows a foreclosure freeze that drove bank stocks lower this month as shareholders reconsidered the risks of home loans sold before the housing crash. The New York Fed acquired mortgage debt through its 2008 rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc., and the Fed’s participation may raise the odds of prevailing against Bank of America, said Scott Buchta of Braver Stern Securities LLC.

“Individual investors have been trying for years to get these big banks to buy back loans at par, and haven’t had a lot of luck,” said Buchta, head of investment strategy for the New York-based securities firm. The New York Fed “in your corner, that adds weight and might give you a better chance for success.”

Buckle your seat belts, we’re in for a bumpy ride.

And speaking of a bumpy ride, the undeniable story about how much better for candidates Big Dawg is than Oprecious is still being told:

Former President Bill Clinton is more effective than President Obama at motivating both Democrats and Independents, a new Gallup Poll indicates.

Both President Obama and former President Clinton have been traveling the country campaigning to prevent a Republican landslide in November’s elections. Clinton has headlined more than 80 events for hard-pressed Democratic candidates, and some observers think he could complete 100 appearances by election day.

In a poll conducted October 14-17, Gallup asked registered voters whether having Clinton or Obama campaign for a candidate would be a plus, minus, or make no difference. From those responses, Gallup calculated a “net impact” by subtracting the percentage who said campaigning would make them less likely to vote for a candidate from the percentage who said it would make them more likely to vote for a candidate.

“Clinton does modestly better than Obama among Democrats,” writes Gallup editor in chief Frank Newport. The net positive impact of Clinton’s campaigning among Democrats is 48 percent, while for Obama it is 42 percent.

Where the former president dramatically outshines Obama is with independent voters. Among independents, “Clinton’s impact breaks about even,” Mr. Newport writes. Some 21 percent of independents are more likely to support a candidate if Mr. Clinton works for them, while 23 percent are less likely, leaving the net result at a negative 2 percent.

But independents in the poll react in a much more negative fashion to Obama. While 12 percent say they would be more likely to vote for a person Obama supports on the stump, a whopping 39 percent say they would be less likely. That produces a net impact from Obama campaign appearances of a negative 27 percent among independents. Since independent voters are often the key to winning elections, that negative impact is a major problem for Democrats.

Unfortunately for the world, the analysis then proceeded to give an opinion as to why this might be. And of course we hear the usual mythologies and Obama pampering:

Why the gap in campaign performance? Gallup’s Mr. Newport argues that it “almost certainly reflects the fact that Clinton has been out of office for 10 years, and thus has become a more benign figure to those who are independent or who identify with the Republican Party.” Obama, he argues, as sitting president is “more likely to generate strong feelings at this point in his career.”

Another likely factor in the poll results is that Bill Clinton is a gifted campaigner, whatever one thinks of his politics. Politico columnist Annie Groer aptly refers to the former president as a man “who never saw a rope line he didn’t want to work.” At an event in New Mexico, the former president said he planned to do “about one stop for everybody that helped Hillary run for president.”

Yes, we see yet again the myth that Clinton is only popular now because he’s been out of office for so long and we’ve forgotten how much we hated him when he just left office. Never mind the facts and what those numbers were. We can’t have facts getting in the way of our mythologies. Notice they also can’t help by pushing the “whatever one things of his politics” bit. Really, you guys are going there. I think most Americans quite like his politics, it’s inside DC that they don’t like it. Nothing changes. WaPo has a related story, but hold your nose, there’s some heavy spinning there as well. But even with their spin, what’s obvious in these contrasts comes through. (In the voice of Dana Carvey doing an impression of HW Bush) Clinton good, Obama bad.

Esquire has an interesting article pointing out that given that Obama is mostly an echo of MA Gov. Patrick, watching the governors race now might be a good indication of how Obama’s will be. And perhaps that’s it’s a bit of a referendum of Obama as well. I think there’s something to that. Definitely a race to watch for a number of reasons.

Let’s change gears here and look at a few things going on in the privacy world. The first item is about how the US Gov. is watching you on Facebook, and in some cases is pushing being “Friends” with some to even more closely monitor your activity:

According to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the U.S. government is busily tracking social networks in a number of ways, including using sites like Facebook to monitor people who are applying for U.S. citizenship.

According to a May 2008 memo by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Narcissistic tendencies in many people fuels a need to have a large group of “friends” link to their pages and many of these people accept cyber-friends that they don’t even know. This provides an excellent vantage point for FDNS [Office of Fraud Detection and National Security] to observe the daily life of beneficiaries and petitioners who are suspected of fraudulent activities.”

In other words, social networking sites give the government an opportunity to reveal potential fraud by friending people who are applying for citizenship, then monitoring their activity to see if they are being deceptive about their relationships. “In essence,” says the memo, “using MySpace and other like sites is akin to doing an unannounced cyber “site-visit” on a petitioner and beneficiaries.”

The other item is about traffic and street cameras monitoring citizens. This story has a twist in that some of these cameras are being opened up to the public, so anyone can watch, and also monitor the police as well:

Back in 1996, writer and scientist David Brin wrote “The Transparent Society,” a tale of two fundamentally similar yet very different 21st-century cities. Both were littered with security cameras monitoring every inch of public space, but in one city the police did the watching, while in the other the citizens monitored the feeds to keep an eye on each other (and the police). These days, many UK police forces monitor their city streets with cameras mounted on every corner. Now, for a fee, a private company is crowdsourcing security surveillance to any citizen willing to watch, fulfilling Brin’s prophecy in a sense.

Devon-based Internet Eyes offers businesses a surveillance service in which private citizens eager to earn cash rewards can log on and view video streams remotely, keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. If a viewer spots a shoplifter, a text is sent to two mobile numbers of the owner’s choosing, alerting store personnel of the matter. The viewer can earn rewards of up to 1,000 British pounds if the tip turns out to be accurate (that’s roughly $1,600). The business pays 75 pounds per month for the service.

If it sounds a bit Orwellian, it is and it isn’t. After all, it’s not the actual government accessing the feeds but regular civilians with no law enforcement power. And steps are taken to keep things secure; the feeds swap every 20 minutes and are completely anonymous, so a viewer doesn’t know the location of the camera. If a viewer does report a crime, the feed switches immediately afterward. In short, any kind of voyeuristic fun you might want to have via the service is seriously limited.

And one last update as we’re going to press. The DADT Judge refuses to stay her decision:

The federal judge who declared “don’t ask, don’t tell” unconstitutional denied the Obama administration’s request Tuesday to let military authorities resume discharging openly gay and lesbian troops while the government appeals her ruling.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips of Riverside rejected Justice Department arguments that she should suspend her decision to prevent disruption to military operations during the appeal.

In fact, she said, courtroom testimony showed that halting the “don’t ask” policy would help the armed forces by retaining service members, including many with exceptional skills.

The trial showed that the law “harms military readiness and unit cohesion, and irreparably injures service members by violating their fundamental rights,” Phillips wrote.

The administration, which has appealed her ruling to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, has said it would immediately ask that court for a stay if Phillips refused to issue one.

A stay would remain in effect at least until a hearing, which might not be before next spring.

Phillips’ order “brings us one step closer toward ending once and for all this unconstitutional policy, which President Obama and Congress seem incapable or unwilling to end themselves,” said Dan Woods, lawyer for the Log Cabin Republicans, a 19,000-member gay rights group that sued to overturn the law in 2004.

And so it goes. Chime in with what you’re reading and seeing.

Wednesday News

Good Morning Conflucians!!

Let’s dive right in, so to speak. It looks like the deep water drilling band is lifted:

The U.S. is back in the deep water oil-drilling business. The question now is when work will resume. The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from the oil industry and Gulf states and with elections nearing, lifted the moratorium that it imposed last April in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.

The ban had been scheduled to expire Nov. 30, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday he was moving up the date because new rules imposed after the spill had reduced the risk of another catastrophic blowout. Industry leaders warily waited for details of those rules, saying the moratorium wouldn’t be truly lifted until then.

“The policy position that we are articulating today is that we are open for business,” Salazar declared.

The reality is more complicated. While the temporary ban on exploratory oil and gas drilling is lifted immediately, drilling is unlikely to resume for several weeks at least as oil and gas companies struggle to meet a host of new safety regulations. For example, the CEO of a company responsible for a well would have to certify it had complied with all regulations. That could make the person at the top liable for any future accidents.

“Operators who play by the rules and clear the higher bar can be allowed to resume,” Salazar said.

And as we heard yesterday, a judge ordered the Pentagon to put a stop to DADT:

US District Judge Virginia A. Phillips in California issued the injunction a month after she ruled that requiring gays in the military to keep their sexual orientation secret is unconstitutional.

The ruling permanently bars the Department of Defense from enforcing the law and goes a step further by compelling Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates to suspend any ongoing investigations or discharge proceedings.

The injunction may be appealed within 60 days. If the Obama administration decides to appeal, it would be in the uncomfortable position of defending a law it has opposed. An appeal, however, might allow the administration and the Pentagon to implement a repeal of the policy in a more orderly manner.

Alternatively, the administration could decide to let Phillips’s ruling become law, acknowledging that the court was able to accomplish what the policy’s opponents in Congress and the administration have yet to do.

The Justice Department said yesterday that it had not yet decided how to respond. “We’re reviewing the ruling,’’ Tracy Schmaler, a department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Several legal observers, however, predicted the Obama administration would seek a stay of the judge’s order from the US Court of Appeals, a request they said would probably be approved as that court reviews the case.

So next is a simple test of the Obama administration. They could either stand by their word and campaign promise and let the ruling stand and allow it to become law, or they can go back on their word and do the stay or worse, appeal, so that they can proceed in a “more orderly manner”. You know, most every time we’ve pushed for more equality in our rights, we’ve been told to slow down and do things in a more orderly manner. We will soon see in the most clear way possible what Obama is made of. What kind of character the man has. I will give him praise and be happy if he does the right thing here. We’ll see.

As of this writing, the miners in Chile are being pulled out. Sometime later in the morning they will hopefully be all out. Here’s a write up as it started to happen:

The first of 33 gold and copper miners entombed half a mile below ground for more than two months were hauled into the frigid Chilean desert air early Wednesday morning, emerging from a cramped, life-saving haven and into the embrace of family members once forced to confront the likelihood of their deaths.

Foreman Florencio Avalos, 31, was the first of the miners to ride up the shaft that rescuers hope will serve as the lifeline for all. Wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes from aboveground lights, Avalos squeezed into a specially fitted, bullet-shaped capsule only a shade smaller than the 28-inch diameter of the tunnel and was winched to the surface over 14 agonizing minutes.

As myiq posted last night, the last debate between Brown and Whitman leaves some looking for third party candidates:

One of the most aggressive segments of the hour-long debate began with Brown responding to moderator and former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw’s question about a Brown campaign staffer caught on voice mail calling Whitman a “whore.”

Brown apologized to Whitman for the first time and called the remark “unfortunate,” but also chafed at Brokaw’s suggestion that to women the word is as offensive as the “n-word” is to African Americans.

“Women know exactly what’s going on here,” retorted Whitman, calling the word a “slur.”

That’s right Jerry, as we all know, bigotry towards women doesn’t count as much as bigotry towards most any other group. I mean come on, it’s only women. What a let down. But wait, there’s more:

On the Brown staffer’s use of the word “whore,” Whitman went on the offensive, saying that “slurs and personal attacks are … not what California is about.”

Brown retorted that “we’ve heard no outrage from you” regarding her campaign chairman former Gov. Pete Wilson’s use of the term “whores” to describe public employees unions.

Whitman’s comeback: “You know better than that Jerry, that’s a completely different thing.”

That’s pretty lame from Jerry. Just own up to it and apologize without that crap. What’s sad is Jerry is ahead by a bit, and if he just did something reasonable here, he’d move ahead. But he’s scared and feels the need to go this path. And what’s particularly tough with the path Jerry is on, is he’s opening unhealed wounds of misogyny within the Democratic party. From a state that chose to rise above misogyny in 2008.

But not to worry, he’s bringing out Obama to take care of that. Sigh.

Speaking of complete idiots out of touch, Paladino finally got word that he may have stepped in it, and now apologizes:

Republican candidate for governor Carl Paladino apologized to the gay community Tuesday for what he called his “poorly chosen words” over the weekend as he sought to steer his troubled campaign back to the tax issues that won him the GOP nomination in September.

“I am neither perfect, nor a career politician,” Paladino said in an e-mail distributed by his flagging campaign. “I have made mistakes in this campaign — I have made mistakes all my life — as we all have. I am what I am — a simple man who works hard, trusts others, and loves his family and fears for the future of our state.”

He apologized and said he should have edited more of the phrasing out of a speech he gave to Orthodox Jewish leaders on Sunday. His speech did include opposition to what he said was schools’ “brainwashing” of students into thinking the gay lifestyle is just another choice. He also said being gay is “not the way God created us” and the gay lifestyle is “not the example that we should be showing our children.”

Ah yes, the old poorly chosen words excuse. So was he lying then or is he lying now? You decide. Hey, he’s a horribly hateful bigot, maybe he can write for the Washington Post (see yesterday’s post by BB).

OK, now for a bit of comedy relief. Turns out Obama and Palin and Limbaugh are related. Somehow I’m not surprised:

President Barack Obama is distantly related to two of his most outspoken critics — Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin and talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh — as well as to former President George W. Bush, according to a genealogy website.

Family trees revealed Obama and Palin, the former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, are 10th cousins through common ancestor John Smith, according to Ancestry.com Inc. Smith was Obama’s and Palin’s 12th-great- grandfather. Smith, a Protestant pastor, was an early settler in Massachusetts and was criticized by the ecclesiastical community for supporting Quakers, said Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist for the website.

Obama and Limbaugh are 10th cousins once removed through shared connections to Richmond Terrell, a Virginia settler who came to America in the mid-1600s, Tyler said.

Palin and Obama have ties to Bush, both through links to Samuel Hinckley. Maybe leadership “runs in the family,” the website said, because Hinckley’s son, Thomas, became the governor of Plymouth Colony before it united with Massachusetts.

“Despite political differences, they do have similarities,” Tyler said. “We are all tied together; we are all part of America.”

OK, I’ll admit it. That’s a very nice sentiment at the end. They got me on that one.

WaPo’s trail mix has a round up of a few political goings on:

Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle announced Tuesday that she raised $14.3 million in the third quarter of the year – apparently a record amount for a Senate candidate who is not self-funding.

With three weeks to go until Election Day, Democrats have canceled all of their ad reservations in at least six districts where their odds of winning appear to be shrinking.

Christine O’Donnell turned heads with her “I’m not a witch” ad. But that attention hasn’t translated into votes for Delaware’s Republican Senate nominee: A new Monmouth University poll shows her Democratic opponent, New Castle County Executive Chris Coons, leading 57 percent to 38 percent among likely voters in the race for Vice President Biden’s former Senate seat.

As recently as several months ago, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) thought he’d have no trouble winning a fourth term. But recent polls have shown the incumbent facing a surprisingly tough challenge from millionaire businessman Ron Johnson (R). The latest survey, conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, shows Johnson now leading among likely voters 51 percent to 44 percent.

Nice run down of a few items. Looks like O’Donnell is going nowhere fast. Good. And sadly Feingold isn’t either. Not good. But neither are surprising.

Now for some more fun news. First, because some folks seem to have an irrational obsession with the Palins, even young Palins, Bristol managed to survive another week on DWTS. Turns out “The Situation” wasn’t so lucky.

And in sports news, the Giants and the Phillies will be playing in the National League Championship Series. It looks to be a great pitcher matchup:

In the year of the pitcher, what else should dominate the National League Championship Series, which begins in Philadelphia on Saturday?

Much of the national chatter has the Phillies with an edge because of their experience, as it should be. They have won the last two NL pennants. Also, in sweeping Cincinnati in their Division Series, Philadelphia’s Big Three starters choked off a Reds lineup that produced the league’s best offensive numbers during the regular season.

However, anyone who predicts another Philly massacre in the NLCS must consider how well the postseason novices on the Giants’ staff pitched against the Braves.

The Giants’ modus operandi in the best-of-seven series will not be a state secret: They must keep the games low-scoring and hope to get one or two good pitches to hit, a mistake here or there, and convert them into the decisive runs.

Hopefully it will be a good one. And of course hopefully the Giants will win. Your mileage may vary of course.

And finally, the Nobel prize for physics went to some scientists that came up with Graphene:

Two Russian-born scientists, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, won the 2010 Nobel Physics Prize Tuesday for pioneering work on graphene, touted as the wonder material of the 21st century.

Both laureates began their careers as physicists in Russia but now work at the University of Manchester in Britain. Geim holds Dutch nationality and Novoselov is both a British and Russian national.

The Swedish Academy of Sciences hailed graphene — “the perfect atomic lattice” — for its glittering potential in computers, home gadgets and transport.

It lauded Geim, 51, and Novoselov, 36, for having “shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics.”

The prize honors a breakthrough that paved the way to graphene, a form of carbon touted as the next-generation super-material.

Just one atom thick, it is the world’s thinnest and strongest nano-material, almost transparent and able to conduct electricity and heat.

As a result, graphene is described as the candidate material to replace silicon semi-conductors.

It’s a big thing. A really big thing. Though small. It’s nice to know, amongst all the corrupt politics and mega corporate control, some cool things keep going on, and progress can still happen.

That’s a bit of what’s happening. Chime in with what you’re reading.

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So That's Where I Get It From

February 3, 2011

Treasure Chest Thursday: Made By My Dad For His Mum

For this Treasure Chest Thursday I thought it would be nice to show the picture my dear Dad Kenneth Read (1924 – 1982) made for his Mum Jane Read nee Stapleton (1887 -1956) many years ago.  I’m not sure when it was made but more than likely about 1942 or thereabouts.

My Dad was in the Merchant Navy and joined up when he was 16 (he lied about his age to them)!  He made this picture using foil from sweetie wrappers and glass – I can’t tell if the glass has been painted black or if there is a black sheet of paper for the background – and his Mum treasured it.

Original item made by K. W. Read is in my private collection - copyright 2011

As far as I can tell, Dad wrote something like All My Love on his photo and finished it off with red tape around the edges.

I saw it for the first time about three years ago and that was when my Mum gave it to me to keep.  She knew I would treasure it.  I only wish I had known of it before then.  Perhaps I saw it as a child at my Grandmother’s but I really don’t remember if that was so.  I love it now and think it was a wonderful gift for a merchant seaman to give to his Mum for when he was away from home.

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Events for 22 December 2013

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Did you know?

The iron lady of India

The most famous 19th century female warrior was the Rani of Jhansi, who recruited female gunners and troopers. She was often seen in the palace gardens controlling her horses with the reins held between her teeth and a sword in each hand.


text:
December 13, 2007

International Film Festival of India -Goa (IFFI) – A First Hand Report( Updated)

Filed under: India n Me,Movies,Random — Kaveeta Oberoi Kaul @ 3:39 pm
Tags: , ,

Link for 2008  39th IFFI Goa

Mr. Mohan Siroya writes directly for “SACHINITI” from the festival precincts in Goa and gives us his first hand account..Interesting!

A brief profile of Mohan Siroya:

Academically a double post graduate ,worked as a Sr.professional manager in MNCs in Mumbai for 30 yrs.. Simultaneously, has also been freelancing as a FILM JOURNALIST/CRITIC for last 40 years. He has been a prolific writer , having written critical articles ,features, reviews etc. on films, Music and TV in numerous English periodicals in India. Named a few are :- The Indian Express, Film Fare, Film World, Picture Post, Cine Advance, Screen , The Hitavada, Lokmat Times , The Twin City Times , Film Industry Journal, Day After, Femina , Eve’s Weekly, Free Press Journal , Blitz etc.

So far Mr. Siroya has written about 7000 articles on films. He is the founder president of FREELANCE FILM JOURNALISTS COMBINE (FFJC), a registered association of Freelance film journalists all over India.

He is also a CONSUMER ACTIVIST of repute , presently being the Chairperson of Consumer Complaints Cell , an NGO based at Marol. Earlier, he was associated with the Consumer Guidance society of India for several years on their complaints committee.. Recently, The Times of India newspaper had eulogized his selfless and free services by calling him a “City Angel”and making a feature on him. Also a Social Activist , having held many prestigious offices in the International Association of Lions Clubs

Mr. Siroya is 71 years young and very much active . He believes in living life king size, with a flair for Shairi, poetry and humour .

38 th International Film Festival of India — Goa

Sedate and Smooth Take off

For the last four years since the Festival started taking place in Goa , this year was the first time that it took off with serenity and seriousnes as a festival of International standard deserves .

The opening ceremony was devoid of any bollyood or cinematic razzmattaz unlike last year when it was reduced to a cheap cinema song- dance show . Credit must go to the Dirctorate of Film Festival and the Chief Minister of Goa, for not entrusting the affairs of orgaanisation to the inexperienced Goa Entertainment Society and diding the two distint areas viz; Cultural and other film shows for public and the actual film festival, both at separate avenues. There was no hassle for the openiing day function ,excpet the autocracy and high hindedness of Police and Kala Academy mangement (the venue of opening function) where, the invitee guests, delgates and media persons were not allowed t enter back into the auditorin for the film show ,once a person had come out even for a natural call . After much ht exchanges and a commotion, the entry was allowed.

Present on the dias were the Minister of Information and Broaasting P R Dasmunshi, Chief Minister f Goa Digmbar Kamath,The Secretary Asha Swarup of Ministry of I & B .
From the film Industry, the Film Federation of India president Mayawalla , South Indian beautious actress Priyamani and the King Shahrukh Khan ,as the Chief Guest , who had the honur to first lit the inaugural lamp.

Union Minister Dasmunshi made two announcements– one that inspite of much media brahuva about shifting f IFFI frm Goa, he clared ,it will remain a permanent venue for the festival. He further revealed that from next year the Minisry will confer THE LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD TO THE OUTSTANDING FILM CONTRIBUTION . THESPIAN Dilip KUMAR an the Bhaarat Ratna Indian nightangle Lata mangeshkar will be conferred first such award.

Compared to earlier years fun filled bollywood , mis-managed and hassled fest, 2007 IFFI was a big success , a fest which conformd to the International standards . Major credit for this must go to the Directorate of film Festivals (DFF-director Neelam Kapur) which ensured that all the details of organizing festival are chalked ,out and executed by it ,leving only the local administrative and infrastructural nitty gritty to the state Government body -Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG). DFF also did delegation registrations, which was on merit thus keeping it manageable and of those who are indeed a part l of Indian film world. The highlights of this success were :-

Selection of films was wide and varied from amongst the meaninigful and serious films , oppsed to the bollywood Indian main stream cinema . . About 175 films from 46 countries were screened.

The innovative method of on line registration and advance ticketing system eliminated the long serpentine queues , stampede or seat hassles in the auditoriums. . Arrangement for the medfia was no doubt, hassle free and without chaos. For opening function , the select media invite cards were notified in adavance.which ensured the orderly distribution.
The opening functions were devoid of any frills and cheap entertainment. Even the location area of the fest was left free of any public functions or cultural revues which were shifted to the populated beach locations .
Screening capacity was augmented by adding two extra theatres adjoining the main Inox venue besides adding two local cinema houses to screen festival films.
Variety of eating stalls , soft/hard drink kiosks were allowed to operate within the INOX/ GMC complex for the benefit of registered participants. Transport arrangements too were much organized and satisfactory

However , there were also problems which could have been avoided with little forsight. They were :

a. Inspite of DFF director’s assertion that the media/delegates will be allowed to hop from the film they did not like to

any other film within half an hour provided seats were available in that hall . However, in practice this did not even. In

the bargain, most of the halls were empty and the media/delegates were deprived of seeing the films of their last

minute choice.

b. Just after the inaugural function on first day, there was a fracas at the Kala Academy as the security did not allow entry

or exit even for a loo and kept the gates shut . After a few minute hot exchanges, the security / Management

corrected the situation .

c For the closing function when the award winning films are announced , instead of inviting the media the way they had

done for the inaugural function , DFF surprisingly decided to dole out invites “On first come first served basis”. This

resulted in inconvenience and a long queue at the only window provided for the purpose.That was a sheer waste of

time at the cost of not watching a movie.

c. T The media centre premises was cramped and did not have any seating lounge for the press. Even the press briefing/conference room was too small to accommodate reasonable number. The computer systems provided for use of media was erratic, full of server problems and deficient configuration..

d. I Inspite of tight security, the ESG could not handle the vandalism played by a local NGO when a few forceed their entry ,removed the sign boards of Kingfisher Media lounge and compelled the management to close operations of serving free drinks to the registered media persons.It was in the guise of protecting morals of Goans , but they did not do anything about all those kiosks operated in the complex where people were wining and dining openly albeit after paying for it. In fact, on strict moral grounds, those should have been stopped first.

The screening of films was divided into various segments as genres , retrospective, focus on a country , cinema of the world . compitition section etc etc. Fourteen films form across the Asia- Africa and Latin American countries were selected for the competition . The jury who made the selection of award winning films , comprised of veteran worldwide film makers

Chaired by Ms. Maria Meszaros of Hungary. Other jury members were Ms. Metem Cumbul from Turkey, Pablo cesatr from Argentina , Robert Sarkies from New Zealand and Shaji Karun from India.

to be continued…….

A few of the good and best films  of the Festival

Opening Film  — Romanian classic “4 Months, 3

Weeks and 2 Days”

It was indeed a masterpiece . written and directed by Cristian Mungiu. The film is a moving tale of trials, tribulations and heart wrenching events in the life of two  medicine girl students , for getting an unwanted pregnancy   aborted. In those days, Hungary had a strict anti -abortion law . Both girls are staying in hostel and are room mates. One of them ,who bore a four  months, three weeks and two days old pregnancy decided to abort it thru’ a quack referred by a friend and the room mate helped her in all respects to get the job done of clandestine ternmination . How they both manage , how the helping friend manages her  twin responsibilities, one to be with her boy friend’s family for an important event and second to look after the  abortion secrecy and nursing ,both occurring    simultaneously. The film also depicted the motive of the room  mate in helping  the dangerous and risky  task , because sooner or later she was to face the similar problem of getting rid of her conception from her boy friend, who was wavering to marry . She expected similar favours in return. For  113 minutes ,the audience was under the director’s magical spell, making them to clutch the edge of their seats due to gripping suspense and fast  developments . The script and direction of Mungiu was  excellent and flawless. He was aided by   magnificent performances by actresses Ana Maria and   Vlad Iranov. Photography and sound tracks were  effective in heightening the tempo. This film rightly deserved the grand prize at the 2007 Cannes   International Film Festival  (The prize Pam d’ Ore ) which it won, besides the other awards at the Toronto International Film Festival .

Award Winning films of  the competition

The  Wall  ( Taiwan)

This Taiwanese film made by the director Lin Chih Ju was declared the best movie  of the competition and was awarded the top prize of Golden Peacock with a cash Rs 10 lakhs. The film is finely crafted about dreams, hope , betrayal  and love of ordinary people coping with politically challenging times in 1930 of the then Taiwan. Even the small villages were not spared of white terror. A- Zhen is a beautiful young housewife who always felt there was something weird in her house. She became curious about the mystery surrounding the wall and one day ,to her amazement found that there is a Japanese man hid behind the wall , whom her husband kept incognito since long and respected him like a God. The man was an activist of a socialist revolution . To prevent him from beiing caught by the authorities , her husband had hidden him inside the wall  in a small cavity  with a tiny closable cover  Her husband used to feed him secretly and used to inform him of the outside developments thru’ fissures in the wall.

Film is well scripted by Wu Zhen Gang with two others. Cinematography  with lanterns and candles is superb. Tsai Yi as the housewife  and Yon Yn Shun as the husband have emoted well in their roles.  Direction of Lin Ju is sensitive matching to the treatment of the subject.

Me Myself  (Thailand )

This film was awarded the second prize silver Peacock with cash of Rs. 5 lakhs as the most promising director to Pongpat Wachira Bunjong for his debut film . The film talks about whether we have a freedom to choose our own life. In the process the film depicts  a story of hope for a  world without discrimination  while recognizing the difficulties of coping with being different. Young man Tan suffers from amnesia and lives with a girl Oom , who is the reason behind his amnesia. Oom has broken from her boyfriend and she also has to look after her little nephew. In the beginning, Tan and Oom did not get along well , but the little nephew creates such situations that they start liking each other. The love Tan receives also helps him in recovering from his memory loss. However, when he realizes his past, that starts haunting him . His past is a big twist to his present life with Oom. How the opposing pasts are reconciled is the crux.

Pongpat , the director indeed has done a magnificent job from a well woven script by  Kongdej J.  He also has extracted  commendable performances from Ananda as Tan and Chayaman as  Oom . The film was well appreciated at the last Bangkok festival

Swapnodoya  ( Bangladesh)

This film shared the special Jury award for the  writer (also the director) Golam Rabaney

Biplab as he was adjudged as the best story-script writer of the film .The award consisted of  a silver Peacock medal, a certificate  and a cash prize of Rs. 2.5 lakhs.

“Swapnodaya” is a simple story of a poor man who has the chance to dream about rich life but later discovers that the things he already have are more important than the dream. The classic story is told simply without any western influence and resonates a truth of life around the millions of people. Fazlu sells fake medicines in local fairs but can barely support his family consisting of his wife, a handicapped daughter and a son to educate. One day his son buys a second had trouser . In a pocket the mother finds a lot of currency notes . Parents feel elated and become dreamy with a better life. But the snag was that the currency was foreign  and the poor /illiterate Fazlu did not know how to  convert in Bangladeshi rupees. He seeks help of a literate friend who agrees to convert the currency but with  50 percent cut. Fazlu still agrees.  Fazlu starts dreaming of a second wife as he will well afford . However, the events playout for him and his family and then the film attains  its grace and insight. Performances by all artistes and the music by Bappa Mozumder  are befitting the mood of the story.The film has also won many International awards in other festivals.

More Than Anything in the World ( Mexico)

This film from Mexico  shared the jury prize  along with  the Bangladesh film “Swapnodaya”, but for the wonderful performance of the girl child  Julia Urbini. The film depicts the story of a child craving for her mother’s love. The child actor’s performance is central to the film’s success.  Julia Urbini gives an enchanting , nuanced  portrayal that helps make this film special.

The relationship between beautiful mother Emilia and her little imaginative daughter Alicia is tested every day. Left to herself in the apartment , she feels uneasy when Emilia brings new man every night . Alicia  takes refuge in dreams which turn into nightmares. She begins to fear that her Mom is possessed by the vamparish man next door.. This film illuminates the secret world of lonely children. Writer -director duo Andres Leon Becker and Javier solar have done  an excellent job. This film had also received the best film award in last Gudalajara and Montreal film festivals.

A few other good films from the World cinema

Goodbye Bafana” ( Germany-South Africa and many othr countries Joint production) is the story of liberation struggle of the black South Africa of 1968 ,their freedom struggle led by Nelson Mandela and the eventual independence. Director and writer is Bille August and the character of Mandela is competently played by Dennis Haysbert.

” No Exit” is an Israel film scripted and directed by Dror Sabo.It’s based on reality shows . The director discovers that no success can  be repeated unless you have added new gimmicks. The film had won the best film and the best actor award for Gal Zaid at the Melbourne and Shanghai Film Festivals respectively.

” The  Exam”  ( China) . This film  is like a mini poetry on celluloid. This vividly weaves a true story happened in a remote island village in  China ,where a primary school teacher Ms. Qu devoted her twenty yeas in serving the lone school and the village students, where no other teacher ventured to come. Ms. Q, wanted a transfer to the city    where her two daughters (one mentally ill),required her presence .The Director General of schools keep a condition that if she can top her school in the district exam consecutively for 10 years then she may get the transfer. Q worked hard and topped the school for 9 years. In  the penultimate year ,the village head reveals her plans to leave the village if  students fair well in the Exam. In order to re-tain her, the students deliberately give wrong answers and fail in the exam. When  Q learns how much the village and children love her, she abandoned her plan to leave the school. First time director Pu Jian has  executed the film in a very natural way and even the actors were real life characters from the village, no professionals. The film had won appreciation at Tokyo , Barcelona and Asian film fest.

“Cruel Embrace ” (Sri Lanka) The  moving emotional drama tells of the struggles of a war widow in Sri Lanka  . The film is is scripted by Nimal Senanayake and directed by Anirudha Jayasinge.

” Yoshimo’s Barber Shop” (Japanese)  .This film interestingly tells a tale of a small village in Japan, where the only barber shop binds the entire cultural and traditional fabric of the village  children. Written by  Ms.Naoko Ogigami ,this film had won huge appreciation at Pan International film Festival

“Love Lorn” (Turkey) It’s a story of an idealist school teacher , who chose his ideals over his family. The film has won laurels in many International festivals and was an official entry from Turkey for  Oscar  in 2006. Film is written and directed by Yavuz Turgul . Film’s lead actress Meltem Cumbul had won the FIPRESCI best actress award at the Palm Springs festival .  Incidently , Ms. Meltem  was also on the jury of this year’s IFFI.

Red Like the Sky” ( Italy) . This    moving film  deals in a matured way with the creativity and mental state of blind  / low vision children . Sensitively written and directed by Cristiano Bortone, the film leaves a lasting impact on viewers.

” Paper Bird” ( Germany). It’s a story of love, lost childhood and the search for  her own identity by a 23 year old man .Imaginatively  written and directed by Vanessa Van Houten.

with beautiful photography of Bangkok.

Hyped and much touted films which did not come up to the  expectations.

The much touted Mira Nair film “Aids Jaago” is a mere compilation of four short docu-dramas directed by the well known  director celebrities  , one by Mira Nair, second  by Vishal Bhardwaj, third by Farhan Akhtar and the last one by Santosh Sivan. The story material is all predictable and offers nothing new. Only Sivan’s “Prarambh” was comparatively topical and better.

Other  Indian diaspora film was “Amal” scripted and directed by  Rachie Mehta which failed to make  the desired impact.  Pakistani film (Also a part of competition) written and directed by Shoaib Mansoor “Khuda Ke liye” also failed to impress as it contained predicatable events and defective script. Of course, our own talented actor Naseeruddin Shah gave convincing performance in both these two films viz ‘Amal” and “Khuda ke Liye”. Another much hyped film of  Rituparno Ghosh made for the International audience  in English ” The last Lear” ,premiered especially in the festival failed to enthuse our confidence in either the director or the thespian actor Amitabh Bachchan  who played the pivotal Shakespearian character.

Unfortunately , the biggest disappointment proved to be the closing film of the festival ” Fados” scripted and directed by the celebrity film director from Spain/Portugal Carlos Saura. Years back , the great Indian  dancer-composer late Uday Shankar had made the classic  Dance ballet film “Kalpana” that was appreciated by only the hard core music -dance aficianods. Same can be told about this international festival touted film “Fados” May be the song and dance numbers for the entire 90 minutes might have been liked by Goans , still having a kink of Portuguise  culture. Otherwise, half of the packed Kala Academy was empty within first thirty minutes. And that was the last note of the festival – IFFI 2007.

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  1. […] kaveetaakaul placed an interesting blog post on International Film Festival of India -Goa (IFFI) – A First Hand ReportHere’s a brief overview […]

    Pingback by Media Districts Entertainment Blog » International Film Festival of India -Goa (IFFI) - A First Hand Report — December 13, 2007 @ 4:24 pm | Reply

  2. […] Link […]

    Pingback by International Film Festival of India -Goa (IFFI) A First Hand Report — December 13, 2007 @ 8:23 pm | Reply

  3. candid, direct, without mincing words take..quite liked it.good there is more. Honestly the mismangaement is surprising also.

    Comment by dilip — December 13, 2007 @ 8:27 pm | Reply

  4. International film festival of India Goa (IFFI) A first hand report

    an interesting first hand account of the goings on there.

    Trackback by — December 13, 2007 @ 8:33 pm | Reply

  5. lull after a storm :) like water after wine…

    waiting for the next one –

    Comment by saptarshi — December 15, 2007 @ 1:19 pm | Reply

  6. haha.. just sharpening my wit while you get ready to sharpen your claws dear sapt.. Seriously I have just been tied up with mundane stuff. But Mohan jis article was quite an eye opener. I agree with dilip it was a no fuss, candid account, breaking all preconceived notions of razmatazz of festivals.

    Comment by kaveetaakaul — December 15, 2007 @ 2:05 pm | Reply

  7. OMG :) claws?? hahaha.. u broke my heart there… such an ardent fan of urz n u thought abt sum feline instincts in me :))

    the unfinished debate is quitetricky indeed, but overall its a ‘luuvve affair’ with sachiniti – totally..

    don break mi heart on this..

    Comment by saptarshi — December 15, 2007 @ 3:45 pm | Reply

  8. awww…cho cho claws just mitten-ed fists..luuvve duel :)

    n me breakie heart..neeeevvvver

    Comment by kaveetaakaul — December 15, 2007 @ 6:07 pm | Reply

  9. so there goes phutt all the hype of the hyped films.. so much caw caw about nothing.I am glad Mohan siroya spoke out so clearly.I sometimes watch these festival films which have won and they are always so good.i will see this years too.

    Comment by neha — December 19, 2007 @ 8:00 am | Reply

  10. I indeed feel honoured by the comments,reactions and the criticism of the readers. This encourages me to improve further .
    Kindly convey my heartfelt thanks to all thr’ your interesting blog.. I will now be inaccessible for next 10 days.

    Comment by Mohan Siroya . — December 20, 2007 @ 6:54 pm | Reply

  11. Kavitaji and surgfers of Sachiniti.

    I have just come back after my fortnight long holiday in the remote place of Rajasthan ( A naturopathic rejuvenating centre for body & mind ).
    while surfing thru’ my own report on the International Film Festival of Goa, I found that thru’ oversight or inadvertently, my comments on the Hindi film “Dharm” made by Ms. Bhavna Talwar were missed out . While apologising for that ,I must state that the film “Dharm” is indeed one of the best films made so far on the religious fundamentalism . Normally, the film makers go above the board in condeming the “Hindu fundamentalism” .But in this film ,Bhavna has not taken any sides and depicted, thru’ the eyes and actions of the ‘Hindu Priest” that the every human’s first and foremost religion(Dharm) is “HUMANITY” IRRESPECTIVE OF THE RELIGIOUS LABEL ,he or she has acquired.Direction and script is flawless and actor Pankaj Kapur has given one of the best performance of his career as the high Hindu priest.
    This film was in fact a deserving film for India’s offficial entry in 2007 Oscars. However, the dirty lobbying or the inherent pulls /pressures forced the jury (Appointed by the Film Federation of India) to select the insipid film “Eklavya” opposed to this beautiful essay on religious fundamentalism.
    Hopefully this film is going to be exhibited commecially and it is recommended as a must watch film .

    Comment by Mohan Siroya — January 4, 2008 @ 4:46 pm | Reply

  12. it’s very nice

    Comment by vinod — February 15, 2008 @ 12:54 pm | Reply

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