Deonandia

Day 5 In Guyana - Death to All Roaches

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:49:00 +0000

Want to know how tired I am? (Okay, replace "tired" with "drunk"). I can't remember the name of the village we visited today. I think it was called Karao.

This was a community of about 200 people, developed 30 years ago in the wake of the mining boom. Getting there, I finally had a chance to field test my snake boots. Yes, everyone, they really are completely waterproof, as I waded knee-deep in the river and emerged perfectly dry. I proceeded with complete confidence in areas possible filled with snakes and chiggers.

And yes, I continued to look like a complete idiot wearing the bloody things. But I'm a complete idiot with dry feet, no fear of snakes, and a funny accessory to brandish.

Today's educational intervention was very well received. I'm impressed by how smart the women of these villages are; they are more knowledgable about certain health topics than many of my university students! One recurring theme that is both surprising and suggestive for my other work is the seeming high prevalence of infertility among this population. This is something I need to give some thought to in the future.

Well, my belly continues to grow and my muscles continue to shrink. I am a shadow of my former self. I'm afraid meat has come back onto the diet (as expected). Now I must slowly slip weight training back onto the slate and beat my body back into shape. It's pretty embarrassing here to be advocating for a healthy lifestyle while sucking in my disgusting gut. I did manage to join 2 other team members on a challenging jog through Bartica yesterday; I could barely keep up!

We met a couple of fellows from Georgetown today who have put together a street theatre performance to teach locals about HIV/AIDS. They are an impressive duo, both goodlooking young Black men with advanced degrees in economics and development studies, but have chosen to forego immediate financial reward in lieu of preparing this national traveling "health soap opera." Unfortunately, we won't be able to see their show tomorrow, since we will be in Batavia doing our own show.

Speaking of all things Guyanese, this week is the 30th anniversary of the massacre of Jonestown. No one here is talking about it.

Off to bed.... or rather off to battle the cockroaches. Two fucking ENORMOUS roaches invaded my room --SHIT! One of them just buzzed my head! It's a flying beast!-- and I was up for hours hunting them down. I managed to kill one, but many more remain. These fuckers are bigger than my hand. Aieee....

Day 4 (What Happened to Day 3?) in Guyana

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:39:00 +0000

Closing in on midnight in Bartica. I'm typing this on Bekkie's borrowed laptop, so I don't get charged a fortune for blogging on my phone. Yes, Karan, they have internetz in Guyana now. Do tell your granny. It moves like molasses, though. And speaking of molasses --or at least the thing it turns into-- yes, Karan, you may also search for the leading brands in the USA. Do tell me if you find them: El Dorado and D'Aguiar.

Well, the team managed two live TV call-in shows, last night and this evening. Thankfully, I was not a part of it. (Especially tonight, since I'd started on the rum a bit early, and was in no condition to be placed in front of a live mic.) They did splendidly, fielding some very telling questions. My favourite phone-in question today was: why do some men ejaculate earlier than others? The way it was phrased, I wasn't sure if this was a concern over premature ejaculation or someone worried about his impending threesome.

Today was definitely a highlight of the mission. We went to the river-based community of Kartabo, population 200 or so. There, the doctors gave clinical care, and we useless members (i.e., me) engaged in some public education exercises. This really is the heart of the intervention. Of course, I had to preface our shtick with stupid jokes and finger tricks. (Those who know me know what I'm talking about.)

Nothing makes friends faster in a remote Third World community than the ability to simulate bird noises and to look like a complete buffoon. Apparently, I'm well skilled in the latter. This allowed us to talk to these women about very intimate topics, including sexual health and pregnancy planning.

In the process, I attracted the attention of about 30 adorable primary school children. At one point, all 30 --just heart breaking in their little school outfits-- gave me a tour of their village, stopping frequently to demand another riddle or a magic trick. Rarely have I seen such astoundingly beautiful children, and I can't help but worry for their futures in a community where 30 year olds look like 60, and where preventable maladies like Typhoid, HIV and TB run rampant.

Tomorrow we are off to another river community. And Sunday, we enter the thick interior, where the more physically challenging segment of this mission begins.

Day 2 In Guyana

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:59:00 +0000

Finally got my long awaited taste of Guyanese rum. I've missed it so.

Today we stumbled through a test case of our evolving educational
intervention. While most of the clinicians actually saw patients at
Bartica hospital, the rest of us attempted to engage patients waiting for
care.

The lovely and forthcoming women at the prenatal clinic were my first
mission. I am always impressed by how well Guyanese rural women carry
themselves.

But the bulk of my morning was spent teaching basic health science concepts
to people awaiting care at the diabetes and hypertension clinic. It was
rewarding to meet with such receptive minds who were clearly thirsting for
knowledge about their own bodies.

This evening our group was supposed to host a call-in tv show. But in true
Guyanese fashion, we arrived at the studio to discover that we had been
bumped for a cricket match.

Only one solution.... Hence the rum.

First Dispatch from Guyana

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Greetings from the Lion's club in Bartica, Guyana. Everytime I come to
Guyana, the infrastructure improves a modicum more. Thanks to the arrival
of Digicell, I can now access email on my GSM smartphone! Mind you, it's
costing me a fortune, so recognize how expensive this blog post -sent from
my phone- is.

The original plan was to head straight into the interior to meet with
remote communities. But since our irreplaceable local contact, my old
friend Bekkie, has malaria, that has been postponed till next week.

Instead, this week we will deal with river-based communities within boating
distance of Bartica.

I haven't had a chance to field test the snake boots yet, but rest assured
it's a priority.

The trip started with a bang as we arrived in Parika to load up our boat
for an hour long trek to Bartica. A smaller boat had just floated in from
the interior on its own. Its sole occupant: a dead man.

No, I did not photograph the corpse. Even I have some decorum. On the
plus side, this is still an unusual enough of an event to be gossip worthy.
On the minus side, it's not so unusual as to warrant any gasps or flash
crowds. Just another dead guy in a boat.

Off To Guyana

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:01:00 +0000

In an hour I head to the airport for yet another 2 week stint in Guyana. This time, however, instead of being attached to a CIDA mission, I'm joining an expedition from the Toronto-based group Veahavta.

Quite honestly, I don't know what to expect, since we're going to a region I'm unfamiliar with. But I've got snake-proof boots, a raincoat, a compass, a world phone and a very a sharp knife. So if I trip on my clumsy snake boots and land on my knife, shattering my compass in the process, I can at least rest on my raincoat and phone the city to send a dude in a boat. That's how it works, right?

Right? Anyone? Bueller?

Anyway.... I will try to blog while I'm away, but you never know what kind of electricity options will be present. So maybe you won't hear from me for 2 weeks!

The Bush Legacy

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:38:00 +0000

It's no secret that I detest the Bush II administration. I had the great fortune of living in Washington, DC, during the immediate aftermath of 9/11, for the start of both Bush wars, the anthrax attacks and the Beltway sniper. I remember quite well the palpable fear of the times; many believed --quite rationally-- that a dirty nuclear bomb was about to be detonated in the nation's capital. Our wills and passports were updated, and everyone seemed to have a one-way ticket out of the city in his back pocket; and the family car was stocked and fueled at all times. There was a run on the antibiotic Cipro, the most accessible defence against anthrax. Israeli nuclear/biological/gas masks were sold out for months. Everyone was preparing for the worst. Seriously, that was the tone of the time. And we all --everyone of us, even we "liberals" who disliked the man-- looked to the President to calm the distress, defend the put upon, and quell the fear, not stoke it.

But he squandered every opportunity with head-slapping regularity. How should we protect the union? Shop. Seriously, he told us to shop. When rednecks were beating up brown people because they resembled Al Qaeda, Bush went on TV and said that that behaviour was sending the wrong message. Sending the wrong message? What about defending the rights of all Americans, not just the white Christian ones? Instead of a leader of a nation, we got an ideological partisan intent on pushing an agenda crafted by PNAC nearly a decade earlier, regardless of the globo-political realities that were essentially contraindications.

But, of course, Bush's greatest failing was the insulting, criminal invasion of Iraq. I spoke out and wrote about my objections to this act early on, and got death threats for my efforts. Today, it is common for the mainstream to talk about how they were lied to about weapons of mass destruction, and had they known of such duplicity, they never would have supported the war.

I call bullshit. To many of us, the duplicity was obvious. Most famously, weapons inspector Scott Ritter appealed to anyone who would listen that the evidence was shoddy. His reward was to be demonized by all the media, not just Faux News. Months later, the new weapons inspector, Hans Blix, would suffer the same fate.

In this sense, at least, Bush was not alone in his crime. His society's institutions, particularly the spineless media, were complicit. Those who voiced dissenting opinions were quickly demonized and denied platforms: Bill Maher lost his TV show for suggesting that suicide bombers were not cowardly; the Dixie Chicks lost shows and sponsors for decrying Bush policies. But extreme racist and militaristic voices, like Anne Coulter, who called for the invasion of Muslim countries and their forced conversion to Christianity, retained their pulpits and saw their audiences and contracts grow fatter.

Bush's policies in support of torture were clearly illegal according to laws under which the USA was a signatory. The internment of prisoners without charge and trial, wiretapping without warrants, the denial of counsel and aid for detainees... all of these are acts worthy of criminal investigation. Consider the following:

"George W. Bush's speech on September 6 amounted to a public confession to criminal violations of the 1996 War Crimes Act. He implicitly admitted authorizing disappearances, extrajudicial imprisonment, torture, transporting prisoners between countries and denying the International Committee of the Red Cross access to prisoners.

"These are all serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. The War Crimes Act makes grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and all violations of Common Article 3 punishable by fines, imprisonment or, if death results to the victim, the death penalty."

I would add that the fomenting of an unnecessary war of aggression, based on deliberately enhanced data, that resulted in tens --if not hundreds-- of thousands of deaths of innocents, is a monstrous war crime that I believe stains the hands of George Bush.

Now, my internet friend Rondi linked to this article, which argues that we are all judging Bush too harshly. Well, I must disagree. I think history will judge him with increasing incredulity that our society allowed him to transgress as much as he did. It's amazing that the US constitution survived the Bush Presidency, and I'm convinced that one more large scale terror incident on US soil would have fully unleashed the beast, and put the final nails in the coffin of the American empire and civil liberty.

A commenter on the Western Standard blog summarized well Bush's biggest blunders:

Bush should have:

1. Stayed in Afghanistan and caught bin Laden rather than starting a second war.

2. Appointed people based on merit rather than cronyism. This isn't an ideological complaint. Harriet Miers for SCOTUS? Come on.

3. Come out unequivocally against torture. Sometimes the good guy needs to fight with one hand tied. It's not fair, but it's what makes him the good guy.

4. Got warrants for surveillance. FISA allowed immediate wiretapping with retroactive approval, with no warrant requirement at all when the targets weren't US persons. Where's the need for unauthorized wiretapping?

5. Recognized that the separation of powers is as essential today as it was when the Constitution was drafted.

I believe that hisory will record that George Bush, Jr, presided over the decline of the American empire from a global military and economic power to fragile and nearly hollow democracy on the verge of becoming a have-not nation. And, if all our hopes are realized, President Obama may preside over the transition of that former empire into a simple, stable republic that once more values the profound ideals of its genius founders.

Where Were You When President Obama Was Elected?

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:11:00 +0000

It's 11:oopm Nov 4th, 2008, and Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States. Welcome back to the world, my American friends. You have one fewer reason to hang your heads. You elected George Bush twice, convincing us that you had all lost your minds. But now you turn around 180 degrees and show the world a remarkably new and encouraging, sane and rational face.

I find that a certain wet substance is blurring my vision at this historic moment. Four decades ago, Martin Luther King was killed for advocating for basic civil rights for Black Americans. There are Blacks who voted today who were not allowed to vote when they were younger. There are graves visited regularly where are buried selfless heroes who were murdered for registering Black voters in the 60s. There are Black Americans who voted today who, as youths, were not permitted to go to school, not permitted to use public bathrooms or drink from public water fountains, and not permitted to ride in the front of the city buses.

Not so long ago, Black Americans were property. They were legally considered three fifths of a human being. Debate even raged over whether they possessed souls. It is truly a heavenly wonder that this same nation has elected a Black man as its leader, within living memory of some of those dark days.

It does not matter that this particular Black man does not have a family history of slavery, having as his origins a direct Kenyan lineage that bypassed the American slave trade. The truth is that any non-White person living in the USA inherits the legacy of slavery. A Black man in America is a Black man in America, regardless of his actual origins.

Much has been made of Obama's biracial nature, of how he has supposedly chosen to be considered Black for political reasons; he is, after all, equally White. But the truth is that historically American law has decreed anyone with more than one eighth African heritage to be Black; that's how they decided who had to sit in the back of the bus. And the further truth is that, due to generations of the rape of slaves, every Black person in America has some White blood in him.

Regardless of your political stripes, you must be moved by the ascension of a Black man to the Oval office. Forever more, Black children in the USA will have as their role models not just singers and athletes, but now the President of the United States. The image of what it means to be American will be profoundly changed, as the First Family will now be comprised of Michele Obama and her two Black daughters. Take a moment to visualize that.

Why is this important? Well, when I lived in Washington, DC, seven years ago, I was dismayed to find on local dating sites White women whose profiles said they were only looking for White men (which is their right) because --and here's the catch-- they prefer to date "all American men". These were not cartoonish redneck racists, but average women working in offices in the nation's capital. The lesson was that so many of the White mainstream unconsciously and reflexively equate "all American" with "White". The same is true among a lot of people in Canada, too.

This is the hurdle that all visible minorities deal with: convincing the mainstream to change its iconography, language and symbolism to be inclusive of our identities. Yes, it's important. To see a Black First Family will be a transformative, revelatory experience in both the USA and Canada. Today's decision has essentially modified what it means to be American.

And what of John McCain? His very generous concession speech was a taste of the old McCain, a man who would have made an excellent President. It's his bad luck to have been saddled with the regressive figure of Sarah Palin and to have been forced to run against the epic, historic character.

We should all remember where we were at 11pm on November 4th. I was in my parent's living room in Toronto, watching the BBC. I chose to be alone lest others see my sissy tears. Where were you?

This Is It

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:48:00 +0000

Only a few hours till the polls open for what is feeling like the most important federal election in modern US history. All signs point to an easy Obama victory, but anything can (and usually does) happen.

I'm stopping the Deonandia poll right now. You will recall that the question was, "Who do you think will win the US election?" From 35 respondents, 62.9% called it for Obama/Biden, while 35.7% think McCain/Palin will pull it off. Four miscreants chose "Other". Bless their twisted little hearts, since I am assuming they're clinging to my 8 year of prediction of a Gore presidency in 2009.

Further to all things electoral, The Other Ray sends us 20 Things You Didn't Know About Elections. But the more touching story is that Barack Obama's grandmother, the woman who raised him, died one day before possibly seeing her grandson make history as the first Black man to be President of the USA. But you know what? That lovely lady managed to vote in the advance polls. A more apt Hollywood ending I could not imagine.

I can't help but think that Obama is still a young man in his 40s, yet he is now without both parents and the grandparents who raised him. As one whose adoration of his own parents has inspired him in all his ventures, I have a hard time imagining the void Obama would face when achieving this most exultant of accomplishments without any of his elder inspirations present. Indeed, I am ever impressed by the calm with which he has faced such shortfalls. If a lengthy and trying campaign is an apt test of a candidate's temperament for the Oval Office, no man has impressed me as much as Obama has these past months.

No, he was not perfect. He said a few dumb things. He kowtowed to traditional US electoral gods, like the Israel lobby. And he has not been the transformational messianic figure of a Kennedy or Roosevelt. But he has been the needed man for his time: very smart, globally bred, multi-everything, calm and reasoned, difficult to anger, and eminently responsible.

And no, upon his ascension to Office --if all goes as foreseen-- America's problems will not vanish in a haze of divine splendour. Rather, quite the opposite will happen, as the fomenting problems of the world, exacerbated beyond all reason by the criminal reign of the Bushies, descend upon Obama, who will have to bear it all without the condescending swagger of his predecessors to hide behind, and with the eyes of a still very racist nation watching for even the smallest of missteps to mar the tenure of the first Black man to aspire to national leadership.

An old mentor put to me best: "the best defence against racism is excellence." Obama has embraced that edict. But anything less that perfection will be seen by his detractors as failure for him, his party, his supporters and indeed his entire race.

It's all such a shame. In so many ways, America --still seen by many as the leading nation of the world-- is far behind everyone else; in the arena race relations, in particular.

As one commenter once put it, this is America's last chance. If voters fail to usher in to office the one candidate who is universally globally acclaimed, yet who also brandishes the intellectual might to actually face the harder issues, then the Empire will not only have crumbled (for that is obviously inevitable), but she will fall rapidly without the cushioning empathy and support of the community of nations.

The drama unfolds in six hours. Tears will flow, both in joy and in defeat. How best to note this occasion? Why, with an SNL clip about Mark Wahlberg talking to animals, of course:

My Friend The F@cker

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:28:00 +0000

Happy Hallowe'en, Diwali and Eid Mubarak everyone. And thanks to the students of the Faculty of Health Sciences who graciously invited me to their big Hallowe'en bash last night. (I only stayed for an hour, so did not manage to jeopardize my career, for those of you who are curious.)

I also want to congratulate resident Deonandia villain Matthew "Darth" Vadum for his enormously popular segment on the Daily Show this past Thursday. If you watch it, you'll understand today's subject heading. Here's the clip:

Now, Matt and I go back 25 years, but have have never agreed on anything political. Indeed, we have had more than one heated argument over things social, economic and political over the years, and have taken that opposition to our various blogs and online personas. Despite all that, I still consider him a good friend, and have watched with pride as he has risen the media ranks in the USA. So I will make no disparaging comments about his segment, even though the Interwebs are just ringing with discussion over it. Just Google "daily show vadum" and see all the hits! I will, however, offer a link to Matt's response to some of the criticism he has received here.

Knowing Matt the way I do, I can assure you all that none of the criticism or any of the mean comments faze him in any way. So I'm sure he'll enjoy your comments, as well.

What's it all about? Why, Barack Obama, of course. If all goes as planned, Obama will be ordained as the first non-white President of the United States. Anything can happen in the next 48 hours, though, most notably an assassination attempt, at least one of which has already been foiled. But failing that possibility, Barack Obama will be the first Black man to hold the station of Abraham Lincoln, the President who is given historical credit for having made this all possible.

I don't think the importance of this fact has been adequately portrayed in the mainstream media. Centuries of the legacy of slavery have finally led us to this momentous event, the ascension of a self-identified Black man (though he is actually biracial) to the highest office in the land, within one generation of segregation. It really does bring tears to my eyes. There was a story of an ancient Black grandmother who voted for the first time ever, at the age of 95, then collapsed in tears afterward. It seems that she never expected to live long enough to be able to vote for a Black President.

But why must it happen now, when the American star is in decline? As one writer put it, what America is electing now is a Janitor-in-Chief, to clean up the mess of the past 8 years. And as another person put, "Right when the thing is about to go under, they hand it over to the black man."

Barack Obama, love him or hate him, is at least a man of his time, and it's hard not to cheer for him because of it. He's the son of an African immigrant and white American woman, who came together in love despite the social barriers of their time. He was raised in poverty, then taken to Indonesia to be raised by a Muslim Indonesian stepfather, gaining a biracial half-sister. Orphaned as a young man, he was then raised by his white American grandparents, again quite poor. By the force of his intellect and will alone, he garnered scholarships that permitted him to attend the finest schools in the world. And as an older brother, he took care of his orphaned sister, allowing her to earn a PhD and become a scholar at his level.

How dare the GOP depict this brave man, who lifted himself from hardship, as an "elite" simply because he embodied the American dream? If anything, he resembles the Randian Libertarian ideal of a man, whose strength of character and self belief transcended temporal barriers and marshaled the resources and opportunities around him. Unlike John McCain and George Bush, Barack Obama was not born into wealth, power and influence, nor did he marry into it. If anything, he was born into a world of barriers to wealth, power and influence --like many Black Americans-- and yet overcame them all with grace and civility.

If/when he wins the election on Tuesday, a new chapter will open in the Book of America, and indeed in the Book of the World. What remains to be seen is whether this chapter will be one of pain or one of redemption.

The Face of a Troll

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:51:00 +0000

Remember that really bad photo of me that I warned you about? Well here it is:

I have no excuse except that I'm possibly half troll.

No, it's not a real magazine cover, just one of those joke shots. And the babe is my friend Parneet. She's single and looking, fellows!

Here's a juicy article about how Evangelical abstinence types are screwed.

Here's a nice discussion about how Obama is being ridiculously vilified, relative to McCain.

I leave you with this redeemable study, indicating that young people today are less intelligent than they were 30 years ago. For any of my students that might be reading this.... this is why I mark you so hard!

That's Asus, With An "S". Pervs.

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:25:00 +0000

Greetings from the Porter airport lounge at the island airport in Toronto. I am writing to you on my brand spankin' new Asus Eepc, the latest in ultra-light, ultra-portable, ultra-cheap computers. Here's a pic of me taken on the pc webcam, as I struggle to figure out its features:

I bought this device to leave with the Guyanese people. But I just discovered --to my horror!-- that the Eepc does not come with a CD drive! This makes it useless to the people in Guyana. Oh well, guess I have to keep it :-)

Yes, I'm still woefully ill (as I hope is conveyed in the poor photo above). And I'm buried beneath a mountain of work. So to those whom I owe stuff --sorry, I'll get to you soon!

Last night I attended the mid-run cocktail party for the Toronto International Festival of Authors. Lots of fun. I met Amitav Ghosh, my old acquaintance Austin Clarke, Richard Gwynn and a nice Danish family whose names I forget.

Sorry, no pics. Well, that's not entirely true. I do have one embarrasing pic, which I will post later.

Until then....

Anderson Silva

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:07:00 +0000

Want to know how much of a fanboy dork I am? I just finished watching UFC 90, the one with the disappointing match between Anderson Silva and Patrick Cote, and had to dig up this marvelous Youtube clip of Silva's highlights:

For those not in the know, Silva is considered by many to be the best fighter in the world, an entire generation beyond anyone else in his weight class. If mixed martial arts were viewed with more respect by mainstream media, Silva would be mentioned in the same breath as Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan as transcendant athletic geniuses.

But of course, the further fanboy in me can't help but ask... who'd win in a fight between Silva and Fedor Emelianenko?

Okay, back to work...

Snake Bite Fever

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:24:00 +0000

In two weeks I head back to Guyana as part of a team sent by Veahavta, a Jewish philanthropic organization, to engage in some mother-infant health projects in the interior. This means having to get my fat ass into some kind of shape, and overcoming my distaste for sleeping in a tent. Right now, I'm shopping for a pair of comfortable yet functional snake boots, appropriate for lowland jungle usage. See, Guyana is beset with 5 species of poisonous snakes, one of which --the labarria, a type of fer-de-lance-- really likes to bite people. So if anyone knows anything about buying snake boots, let me know ASAP!

In the mean time, I have some random election-themed images for you. First, courtesy of EK Hornbeck, here's a behind-the-scenes look at the Sarah Palin stripper-lookalike-contest in Vegas:

Speaking of Ms. Batshit Crazy Alaskan Governor, here she is on that fateful day when she realized the full extent of her international affairs experience:

And can you believe the Republican strategy for addressing the global economic meltdown? More breaks for the rich? It's that ridiculous Reaganomics nonsense again: trickle down economics. Oddly, it was Michael Moore (who pisses me off a lot) who said it best, last night on Larry King Live. He said, in the days since FDR, America attained its wealth through the production and selling of goods. Then, in the Reagan era, they switched to making money from money, essentially through the manipulation of currencies and securities. There is no innate value in such speculation; ultimately a nation's wealthy comes down to its resources and production capacity. Hence, today's final image is a summary of the Republican's tired and wrong policy of trickle-down economics:

The Laughing Gnome

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:31:00 +0000

I am deathly ill today, and yet must heave my growing ass onto an airplane in a couple of hours. So I have nothing of particular depth for you today. Instead you get a few random things. First is this very interesting photo of Barack Obama's maternal grandparents:

There is a touching description of the relevance of this photo here. And here is an interesting summary of the family lineages of both major candidates.

In the spirit of equal airtime, here's a fascinating and powerful video from French TV showing John McCain in his POW days:

Next, here's a very rare David Bowie song that he refuses to acknowledge today. Behold, the Laughing Gnome:

And if that wasn't weird enough, here's Bowie mocking Ricky Gervais in song:

Lastly, remember my post on the upcoming porno about Sarah Palin, called Who's Nailin' Paylin? Courtesy of C.A., here's a "safe for work" clip from it:

Let's finish off with this photo, courtesy of Medzilla:

The Evolution of a President

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:49:00 +0000

From The Other Ray:

Five Years

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:42:00 +0000

In 3 months, my idol, David Bowie, will turn 62. Man, I feel old. Here he is in a very rare 1975 performance from the Dinah Shore show:

And from EK Hornbeck, here's a very usunusual anti-war ad from 1964:

And the Other Ray sends us this, um, summary of The Search For Spock:

R.I.P., Rajiv Dharamdial

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:49:00 +0000

The above photo is of 14 year old Rajiv Dharamdial, known as Ravi, who was stabbed to death last week while walking home from school in Brampton (which is pretty much a part of Toronto, for those of you reading this from outside Canada).

Rajiv was sort of a distant cousin of mine, though not a blood relative; at least not to my knowledge. I'd never met him, nor even knew that he existed. But the singular tragedy and consequence of his departure is not lost on me.

This blog post will be automatically reproduced on my Facebook page, where some of Rajiv's true blood relatives will see it. To them, I offer nothing but sympathy and shared rage. A lot of crime, while detestable, is sort of understandable. Child murder is certainly not in the "understandable" category.

Rajiv was stabbed to death by two Black youths. This is relevant because the defining curse of all things Guyanese is the mindless and futile discontent between Indians and Blacks. It is one of the many reasons so many of use emigrated from the violence and poverty-plagued land of our birth.

While Rajiv's death may or may not have had a racial dimension to it, given the history of racial strife intrinsic to the legacy of all Guyanese, even those --like Rajiv-- who were born abroad, it is necessarily an issue that comes to mind, awash in the grief of his violent end. Thus it behooves us to acknowledge the potential role of race as this case unfolds; to do otherwise serves no good purpose.

So let us hope for four things: (1) that Rajiv's murderers are brought to justice; (2) that we find out that race was not an issue in the event, lest we conclude that Guyana's sins have migrated north; (3) that nothing like this ever happens again; and (4) that Rajiv's parents are miraculously granted some degree of peace in the wake of such unimaginable tragedy.

Angry Old Man

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:16:00 +0000

You know, for about 30 seconds I thought about "live blogging" the McCain/Obama debate last night. Then I realized it would mean sinking to an all new "I have no life" low.

For me, the evening can be summed up with this:

McCain's only shot was to come out swinging --which he did. But in doing so, he was unprepared for Obama's excellent defense, which was simply to relax and be presidential. The frustration eventually got to McCain, causing him to seem incredulous and petulant, as in the above clip. McCain just isn't a media friendly guy, as shown in the following image from Andrew Sullivan's site:

Want to know where John McCain got his debate talking points? Click here.

And unsurprisingly, someone has already Youtubed McCain's various facial ticks and contortions:

The BBC has a nice summary of people's reactions from around blog land. But I think what sums it up best is that America is angry and frustrated... but that doesn't mean the American voters want a President who's also angry and frustrated, which is what McCain projects. They appear to want one who's calm and dedicated to getting them out of their quagmires.

But hey, anything can happen in the next few weeks.

In Other News...

Time for some nerdotry. Ever read Wil Wheaton's recaps of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation? Do so here.

Entertainment Weekly has a defensible list of the top 10 ST:NG episodes here. I think they're wrong about the ranking, though. "The Inner Light" is the best, and possibly one of the best episodes of American TV ever.

EW gets this completely wrong, however: 17 Sc-Fi Misfires. They include the near perfect Bladerunner on that list? What are they smoking?

Nailin' Paylin

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:44:00 +0000

In preparation for tonight's 3rd (and final) Obama-McCain debate, check out the following PailinAsPresident.com website. Seriously, check it out.

And thanks to Cousin Ajay for news of Larry Flynt's latest opus, Nailin' Paylin [sic], a porn version of Sarah Pailin's quest for the White House. With such quotable lines as "Drill, baby, drill", this was inevitable.

Here's the star:

I'd vote for her.

Now, on to last night's election results...

With a very low voter turnout (something marginally over 50%), the Conservatives predictably walked away with a "strong" minority government. I don't know what can ever be considered "strong" about a minority government: either it's vulnerable or it isn't, and a minority government is always vulnerable.

Canadians no longer vote the issues. They don't even vote their local candidates. They now vote the personalities of the leaders of the federal parties, American style. Of the top four choices, Elizabeth May seemed genuine but amateurish, Jack Layton seemed ridiculously old-school partisan, Stephane Dion seemed confused and desperate, and only Stephen Harper remained calm and kingly the whole time. Combined with two factors --voter apathy and the splitting of the votes from the Left of centre-- Harper's persona won him another victory.

As discussed yesterday, however, this will not be accepted as a victory by Harper or the Conservatives. What's the point of calling an election if you simply retain the status quo? This was their one chance to get a majority government, and they failed. There is a very good chance that Stephen Harper will walk away from his throne in coming months. And there is a better than good chance that, come May, we will see a new Liberal leadership race.

What does this mean? Another election in 1-2 years, possibly involving two brand new front-runners.

So here are the results, as of 3:AM Wednesday morning (some ballots are still being counted):

Conservatives - 143
Liberals - 76
BQ - 50
NDP - 37
Green - 0
Other -2

Based on my predictions from yesterday, this gives me a total deviation of 50 seats.

My nemesis in this endeavour was Nasty Nicky B who, in the comments of yesterday's post, offered his own prediction:

Conservatives: 131
Liberals: 89
Bloc: 47
NDP: 39
Other: 2
Green: 0

Nick's total deviation from the actual results is 29. So I guess he wins this particular contest. But I'll get you next time, Barrowman. You know I will....

Canadian Election Predictions

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:33:00 +0000

Today is election day in Canada. I'd made up my mind not to vote, since both ridings in which I could are pretty much locked up by the candidates I would have voted for. But at the last minute, I decided to exercise my franchise and vote in Ottawa.

Now, none of my ID has my Ottawa address on it. So I went to the polling booth, produced my driver's licence (with Toronto address) and a letter I'd just received from the Canada Council for the Arts, with my name and Ottawa address typed on front of the envelope. Believe it or not, this was sufficient to allow me to vote in Canada's federal election.

Huh? Neither of those items proved that I am a citizen of Canada. And the letter from the Canada Council was in no way official; the address was typed on the front of the envelope, not inserted beneath the plastic window, which is the usual imprimatur of officialdom. I wonder how much election fraud actually takes place in this country, given how easy it is for an unqualified person to vote.

But I guess it can be argued that the problem in Canada isn't unqualified people voting, but not enough people voting at all! However, I'm one of those people who'd rather see a low voter turnout, consisting of informed citizens, than a high turnout of people who have no idea why they're voting.

Now, this is a peculiar election. Stephen Harper's Conservatives called it during a minority tenure with hopes that they could transform their tenuous government into a majority with a real mandate. But amazingly, the Liberals have threatened to take that minority away from them. So, if the Conservatives do anything other than win a majority government, they will be perceived as having lost.

It's unclear how the current economic crisis will affect things. I think the cold, dispassionate economist (Harper) wins out over the excitable professor (Dion) and the constantly-spouting-talking-points Other Guy (Layton). Thus, I present you with my prediction for this evening:

Conservatives - 124
Liberals - 100
Bloc Quebecois - 50
NDP - 32
Green - 1
Other - 1

I'm being generous to both the Greens and the Liberals, but a guy's gotta take a chance sometimes. And yes, Elizabeth May beats Peter McKay.

Prince Planet and Toe Boy, The Eight Man

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:32:00 +0000

When I was a kid growing up in the early 70s, there was no cable TV, we only got a handful of stations on our clunky old black and white television, and children's programming was a rarity. When I was 5 or 6, I used to watch a few imported Japanese cartoons (what today would be recognized as the origins of modern anime) that had been altered for American audiences.

One such show left me a snippet of theme song that has lingered with me these past 35 years. Over the decades, the tune and the words have mutated, so much so that I had no idea what it was actually all about. The snippet that remained was the line, "Toe boy, the eight man." It made no sense, of course. I eventually concluded that I was singing, "Tarzan, the ape man", filtered through a toddler's recollection.

But yesterday, by virtue of the magic of the Internet, my decades old mystery was finally solved. The song that I'd been humming for 35 years was the theme to a mostly forgotten, but somewhat historically important, Japanese cartoon called, "Tobor, the Eighth Man."

See, Tobor ("robot" spelled backwards) was a cyborg who wore a business suit during the normal hours of the day, but became the superhero "Eighth Man" when danger arrived. I can finally die in peace, my friends. Want to see the world through this 5 year old's eyes? Check out the intro of "Tobor, the Eighth Man":

In Japan, the show was called "Eitoman". For a comparison between the Japanese and American versions, check out this clip:

Another cartoon from that era that rings warmly in my childhood memory is one called "Prince Planet". I remember fondly watching every episode, in which unerringly the heroic Prince would see his power levels drop dangerously low (as indicated by the giant "P" on his chest). Always a tense moment for a toddler. Check out the opening segment from this forgotten but fantastic Japanese cartoon:

Now, I cannot begin to express to you how well engraved these random images of Prince Planet are in my temporal lobes. Of course, through my infantile cognitive filter, the Prince appeared mightily heroic and important. Those rock creatures in the opening segment haunted me for years as horrific incarnations of evil and terror.

Seeing it now, I'm rather embarrassed that these silly stories and images had such a lasting impression on me. But that's life, no? I guess the lesson is to realize that children process images and narratives in a much different way than adults do, and that we should never minimize the impact of seemingly innocuous or disposable children's programming and products.

Here's a full episode of "Prince Planet":

But, Plugs

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:19:00 +0000

(Today's subject heading is an homage to internet wrestling legend Chris Hyatte, who may have just got married. With Hyatte, one can never tell what's fact, what's fiction and what's delusion.)

My latest op-ed is the top story over at India Currents Magazine. (This is a smaller version of an original Podium article.)

Over at Skiffy.ca, we have a new article: a review of the new Andromeda Strain by DeeMack.

Shout out to resident Deonandia villain Darth Vadum, who tapes his first appearance on the Daily Show this morning! We don't agree on anything politically, but I hope he kicks some ass on TV, 'cause he's actually a good dude.

Here in Canada, we are four days from Election Day. Depending on which pollster you ask, we are on the verge of another Conservative minority, a Conservative majority or a Liberal minority government. You'll have my prediction, as usual, on Monday.

Recently, Liberal leader (and francophone) Stephane Dion appeared on the Right-leaning CTV network for an interview. As you can see from this following video, he seemingly stumbled on one of the questions, asking for clarification several times:

The Conservatives are making much of this event, as evidenced in this Western Standard blog post. But if you watch carefully, it's evident that the problem wasn't in Dion's comprehension (though that plays a part), but rather in the changing and poor phraseology of the question.

The interviewer first asks, "If you were Prime Minister now what would you have done about the economy and this crisis that Mr. Harper has not done."

Then, he asks something to the effect, If you were Prime Minister now, what would you have already done differently? Huh?

Most politicians would have resorted to their standard talking points about the economy. I think it's to Dion's credit that he struggles to understand the specifics of the question in order to provide a specific response. I also think that most native English speakers would not have been able to understand the specifics of that question, either, since most couldn't parse a sentence or formulate a complex verb tense to save their lives!

Dion's request for clarification is completely reasonable from a non-political standpoint: how much time would he had been Prime Minister before the crisis hit? A few days? Years? The time frame makes a difference to the quality of his answer. Or at least it would for someone trying to give a truly reasoned response, rather than the canned answer we'd expect from Harper or Layton. (In particular Layton, whose standard talking points are really starting to grate on me.)

In any case, Dion's inability to answer the question speaks both to his poor grasp of idiomatic English and to his highly analytical thought processes. But it also speaks to the journalist's inability to ask clear and specific questions, and even his inability to rephrase when asked to do so. My impression of Stephane Dion went up as a result of this event, since it showed me that he does not try to avoid tough questions, but instead seeks to understand them.

Shame on anyone who attempts to portray this interview as an example of Dion's poor intellect or weaseling politician ways. The polar opposite could not be more true.

Breaking News: Unknown Candidate for President!

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:59:00 +0000

Watch it here.

(Thanks to Darth Vadum).

McCain vs Obama, Round 2

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:24:00 +0000

These Presidential debates are amazing things. Beforehand, the campaigns put out ridiculous statements aggrandizing the other guy, and minimizing expectations for their guy. Regardless of who actually did the best job, afterwards the spinners take to the town, trying to convince everyone that either their guy scored a knock-out punch, or the format was biased against them. (Example here.) And when it's all said and done, every viewer perceives the event through the reality filtering lens of his own political stripe.

A quick scan of the blogosphere sees Right-wing sites, like the Western Standard, saying things like: "Every time [Obama] talks, he reminds me of a smooth, condescending 'expert' coming down to the level of the not-as-smart folks he's trying to explain the world to. I can't get past his presentation style which reeks of phony to me."

Meanwhile, Democratic sites, like Daily Kos, report that "McCain was ridiculously bad all night."

My take? McCain was ridiculously bad all night. I think he read the audience all wrong. Today, for the first time in a long time, Americans seem to have lost their sense of humour. Their economy is decaying and they're not doing well in two wars. They want a smart guy to talk seriously to them, not to hand them platitudes and bromides. McCain kept handing them platitudes and bromides, and sank to negatively portraying his adversary more frequently than did Obama; the crowd did not seem to enjoy that.

In one particularly head-slapping moment, Brokaw asked the candidates whether health care was a responsibility or a right. A more soft-ball question I could not imagine. Obama answered correctly; whether he believes it or not, the right answer is that every citizen has a right to be healthy. McCain answered it with foolhardy candour: that it's a responsibility. Now, I get that he was trying to suggest that the government has a responsibility to offer health care, but that's not the way it came across, and that's certainly not the most salable message.

Obama's policies were well explained. McCain's were vague, and peppered with far too many "my friend" suffixes. I sensed that a lot of people --myself included-- felt spoken down to. On that topic, the blogsophere will make much of the following quote from McCain, in which he referred to Obama as "that one". It was the most glaring example of the disdain that was seething from McCain's pores:

Intended or not, the phrase will ring with racist overtones for a lot of people. Hence the following:

Now, Obama voiced a number of policies that I soundly disagree with, particularly his bellicose foreign policies. I want to reiterate something I've blogged earlier. By Canadian standards, Barack Obama has more in common with Stephen Harper than he does with the platforms and beliefs of any other major federal leader in this country. But as the furthest-most Left voice in maintstream American federal politics at the moment, I gravitate toward his candidacy. Let us make no mistake, however: if/when Barack Obama becomes President, I expect to take great exception to many, many, many of his policies.

Tonight, Obama appeared relaxed, thoughtful and Presidential. McCain appeared frustrated, a tad exercised and maybe angry, but definitely desperate. To me, this evening was a resounding success for Barack Obama. But many things can happen between today and election day.

In the mean time, don't forget to take our poll on the side bar to the right!

A Whole Lot Of This and That, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Raywat Deonandan) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:29:00 +0000

My friend Richard Von Erlac took this magnificent photo from the Yukon a few weeks ago. Pretty impressive, no?

EK Hornbeck sends us this English translation of a speech by the Prime Minister of Iceland, with dire warnings about the world economy. End of Days, indeed.

Here's some interesting news: premature ejaculation is genetic.

Here's some other interesting news: a man is fighting paying child support because he claims he was asleep when his child was conceived, and thus it was done against his will. As one Fark.com commenter, named "Drew Hates Boobies", put it: "I think I'd just have to pay the child support. Better that than admitting that I was the king of lame."

Know how John McCain keeps berating Barack Obama for having opposed the so-called "surge" in Iraq? 'Cause, you know, the surge has been all success and roses? Here's a perspective that makes the surge look a little less salable.

The Other Ray sends us 20 Things You Didn't Know About Geniuses. He also sends us these great clips from Diesel's XXX Party. Yes, they are (surprisingly) work safe.

Sneh sends us the following clip. It's relevant to the Canadian federal election, and it helps if you speak French:

I love this name: Bookkake.

And I am the only person over 30 who thinks that that Katy Perry chick is hot?

Here she is on the Tonight Show last night. Yummy: