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Pretend it's spring training of 1950. I wager you that a certain nine-year pitcher with a record of 83–94 and an ERA+ of 92 in 1431 innings will make his way to the Hall of Fame. You'd probably demand my money on the spot.
And you'd be wrong. Very wrong.
Going into 1950, that stat line and the mere 8 WAR it begat belonged to Early Wynn. Three-hundred-game winner Early Wynn. Hall of Famer Early Wynn. No one could have predicted his glorious 30s, but like we did on Friday with position players, we'll take a look at surprising Hall of Famers and finger a few fellows with a chance to make us all look like dopes.
Surprise, sometimes, will come around
Using BBREF's Play Index, I searched for pitchers who:
- had Hall of Fame level careers
- played (mostly) after World War II
- accumulated fewer than 30 WAR before age 30
- earned at least 60% of their career WAR in their 30s.
These dozen hurlers made the cut (and Kenny Rogers was very close).
DEBUT PRE-30 PRE-30 30+ WAR AGES DRAFT PITCHER AGE INN WAR WAR 30/31/32 ROUND ========================================================== Kevin Brown 21 1279 17.8 50.7 4.3/8.0/7.0 1 Jim Bunning 23 1361 23.3 37.0 4.7/1.5/5.4 --- David Cone 23 1267 21.2 40.5 7.2/6.8/7.0 3 Chuck Finley 23 1199 21.4 37.1 7.2/3.4/3.1 1 Bob Gibson 23 1448 25.6 56.3 6.1/2.5/11.2 --- Tom Glavine 21 1721 26.1 47.9 5.8/5.5/5.1 2 Randy Johnson 24 1073 14.4 89.9 5.5/8.6/1.2 2 Phil Niekro 25 604 8.5 88.9 6.0/2.3/5.0 --- Gaylord Perry 23 1360 20.6 73.1 6.5/7.6/2.2 --- Nolan Ryan 19 1935 29.0 54.9 7.8/2.5/3.8 12 Curt Schilling 21 988 17.0 63.7 6.3/6.2/4.8 2 Early Wynn 19 1431 7.9 43.7 5.4/3.5/1.0 --- ---------------------------------------------------------- AVERAGE 22 1306 19.4 57.0 6.1/4.9/4.7 3 MEDIAN 23 1320 20.9 52.8 6.1/4.5/4.9 2
These guys were more highly touted than the hitters we looked at the other day. There's an awful lot of hard-throwing, projectable, early-round draft picks there—well, and Niekro, Perry, and Glavine. While they typically debuted at 22 or 23, as a group they didn't firmly establish themselves in rotation until age 25, but other than Niekro, there aren't any real late entrants to the majors here. A big commonality among them is durability. These guys didn't miss many starts due to arm problems in their twenties.
There are some other interesting commonalities. Unlike the hitters who were often guys in need of opportunity or health, several of these pitchers made important, well-known changes to their game and metamorphosed into the pitcher we remember so well.
- Early Wynn became a consistently good pitcher after a trade to Cleveland paired him with pitching coach Mel Harder, who taught him secondary pitches.
- Jim Bunning has said that after early struggles, learning a slider in 1956 in the Cuban Winter League changed his career.
- Gaylord Perry claims to have learned the spitter in 1964, and his stats reflect a significant career turnaround.
- Nolan Ryan increased his strikeout rate by two batters per nine and cut his walk rate by 1 to 1.5 per nine immediately after the infamous Jim Fregosi trade.
- Randy Johnson got a 1992 tip from Ryan about landing on the balls of his feet, not his heel, and almost instantly became RANDY JOHNSON.
A few also have in common early-career control issues: Gibson, Ryan, Bunning, Cone, Johnson. Nine of the twelve had one or more All-Star level seasons in their 20s, three did not. Finally, several also had what appeared to be a normal-looking age 27–30 peak but then exploded in their thirties. Not one had a year below 1.0 WAR in their early thirties—there's no room for disaster on the way to the Hall.
So we're looking for pitchers who:
- debuted around 23 years old
- became entrenched starters around 25 years old
- may have had a career-changing trade or transformational moment
- probably had an All-Star level season before age 30
- were durable and could handle an innings load
- if they are old enough, probably had a huge year somewhere in their early thirties.
Time to roll up our sleeves.
Don't act so surprised
A few guys are at this surprise business already and have made it through their age-32 seasons or beyond.
DEBUT 2014 PRE-30 PRE-30 30+ WAR AGES DRAFT PITCHER AGE AGE INN WAR WAR 30/31/32 ROUND ================================================================== Cliff Lee 23 35 965 11.9 31.4 5.4/4.8/8.6 4 James Shields 24 32 1227 16.6 10.1 2.7/4.1/3.3 16 Adam Wainwright 23 32 874 19.1 13.4 1.1/6.2/6.1 1
- Cliff Lee, especially, seems to typify this mold. He debuted at 23, became a rotation regular at 25, was average or worse, then turned a corner at age 29 when he started throwing the sinker and stopped walking people. Since then he's one of baseball's elite pitchers. On the other hand, he strained his flexor tendon this season and we won't know what to expect until Spring Training begins.
- Unless James Shields morphs into a stud, he's not really on this path.
- Touts pegged Adam Wainwright for stardom early on. After a trade from the Braves to the Cardinals, Waino was a setup man and October closer in 2006 then moved into the rotation in 2007 at age 25. He achieved All-Star form, lost a season to TJ surgery, and has returned to posted two excellent years since. On the other hand, he just had some cartilage trimmed in his elbow.
Early returns say go with Cliff Lee.
It'll surprise ya'
These moundsmen from 29–31 may be starting to make their move.
DEBUT 2014 PRE-30 PRE-30 30+ WAR AGES DRAFT PITCHER AGE AGE INN WAR WAR 30/31 ROUND =============================================================== Chad Billingsley 21 29 1175 16.9 --- --- 1 Clay Buchholz 22 29 915 12.9 --- --- 1 John Danks 22 29 1303 21.7 --- --- 1 Doug Fister 25 30 819 14.5 4.5 4.5/--- 7 Matt Garza 22 30 1182 14.8 1.4 1.4/--- 1 Scott Kazmir 20 30 1180 17.8 1.7 1.7/--- 1 Francisco Liriano 21 30 1001 12.8 1.5 1.5/--- --- Brandon McCarthy 21 30 789 9.1 1.1 1.1/--- 17 Anibal Sanchez 22 30 1051 21.2 2.4 2.4/--- --- Max Scherzer 23 29 1239 24.0 --- --- 1
Billingsley, Buchholz, Kazmir, Liriano, and McCarthy shatter more easily than Waterford crystal, so the durability factor probably rules them out right away.
- John Danks: OK, a busted shoulder capsule has cast a pall over his career. He has throw more innings than anyone else on this list, and he dropped three All-Star quality seasons on the AL in his first few years. Could find that form again? Maybe if Don Cooper has something up his infinitely long sleeve. Eh….
- Doug Fister: Not exactly the hard-throwing, high-round pick. Never had a 5 WAR season and a little injury prone. His career path looks like a normal, linear growth pattern, but he just had his most valuable season in 2014 after adding a cutter in 2013, throwing more fastballs, and cutting down on curves. Is he teeing it up for greater things?
- Matt Garza: Looking more and more like an innings muncher.
- Anibal Sanchez: Nagging owies, but has thrown a thousand innings with superb swing-and-miss stuff. His thirties could turn out very nicely with better health. And the world would be safer if the Arabs and Jews got along better.
- Max Scherzer: Three years ago, the former first-round pick started throwing a two-seamer and a curve, cut down his fastballs, and slightly increased his changeups. The result was a dramatic bump in K-rate, a lower walk rate, and a lower home run rate, which, with his durability, suddenly established him as an elite pitcher at ages 28 and 29. That's the pretty much the exact kind of pitcher we're looking for. But he'll have to more than double the 24 WAR he's got entering his thirties. A vintage Verlander year might help.
Writer's choice? Scherzer in a walk.
A scout is never taken by surprise
Now let's do some serious speculating. Plenty of 26–28 year old pitchers qualify, so I've narrowed down to a few that make sense.
DEBUT 2014 PRE-30 PRE-30 DRAFT PITCHER AGE AGE INN WAR ROUND =================================================== Homer Bailey 21 28 998 7.3 1 Johnny Cueto 22 28 1208 21.9 --- Gio Gonzalez 22 28 1089 17.0 1 Phil Hughes 21 28 990 10.6 1 Dallas Keuchel 24 26 439 4.9 7 Corey Kluber 25 28 450 8.2 4 David Price 22 28 1221 23.2 1 Tanner Roark 26 27 252 7.1 25 Jordan Zimmerman 23 28 892 16.7 2
No one would be surprised by Price or Cueto making a Hall of Fame run. What's more surprising is that they qualify by these criteria at all. Similarly, Zimmerman is a well-known commodity. But the rest?
- Homer Bailey: A perennial candidate to figure it all out but hasn't. Been up and down a bit and appears to have changed repertoire once or twice. Two no-hitters display first-round talent and there's something of an Early Wynn feel here, but he hasn't turned that corner, and flexor-tendon surgery in September makes things complicated.
- Gio Gonzalez: Has retrogressed since a near All-Star-level year at age 26. But that's not uncommon for surprise guys. Over 1000 innings at age 28, so he's durable. Despite shoulder inflammation that cost him a month this year, he was outstanding in September with little if any degradation in velocity. No transformative moment here, but that's not required.
- Phil Hughes: 1st rounder with lots of ups and downs, suddenly transforms himself into a strike machine with an 11.63 K/BB ratio, chopping down his walks, boosting his K rate, and reducing homers. All of which comes from throwing his curve harder, and his slider…never. Broke out this year, but is he poised to break out in a bigger way?
- Dallas Keuchel: No one outside Houston had even heard of him before this year. 2012 and 2013 were ugly. In 2014 Keuchel cut his walks and slashed his homer rate, earning 5.1 WAR for a bad Houston team. At 26, with a change in approach, and a tighter slider, he could be coming into his own.
- Corey Kluber: Made a fateful change to his approach and turned into Cy Young. That's the kind of fellow we're looking for. He's only going to throw 650–700 innings in his twenties, but given his inconsistent minor league records, he couldn't be more surprising.
- Tanner Roark: Has only thrown 252 innings, but with a 2.57 ERA and a 3.24 FIP. Both of which are streets ahead of the 4.04 minor league ERA and mediocre peripherals. As a 25th round selection with meh strikeout rates and a below-average fastball, it's all about location. Roark may not have changed his approach but rather honed his command to such a point that he's an All-Star kind of pitcher. It seems awfully unlikely, however, that he'll step up to a Madduxian level of artistry, but he doesn't need to be the Professor to be a Hall surprise pitcher.
Gun to head I'll take Kluber and Gonzalez among this bunch. Kluber has a wide repertoire, has shown the most ability, and has a really surprising career path. Gonzalez seems more like the kind to simply step up to a higher level.
Cliff Lee, Max Scherzer, go Gonzalez, and Corey Kluber. My surprise guys to watch for. Really a lot of these pitchers could be that guy whom we just shake our heads about in amazement. Or maybe it's someone I haven't listed. That's the fun of baseball, watching it happen and allowing ourselves to be surprised and delighted.


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WWE News
Preview for tonight's episode of WWE SmackDown Live
WWE invades Manchester, NH at the SNHU Arena for tonight's episode of SmackDown. Here is what's on tap for the show:
– The fallout from last week's show.
– Jinder Mahal vs. AJ Styles in a singles match.
– WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Baron Corbin in a non-title match.
– WWE United States Champion Kevin Owens will be hosting a special edition of The Highlight Reel.
– A contract signing for the six-woman tag team match that will see Charlotte Flair, Naomi, and Becky Lynch against Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina at the Backlash PPV event.
– Adding more matches to the Backlash PPV
We will have live coverage of SmackDown at 8 pm EST.

subset: commoncrawl


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I know a couple of people that loveee the darkness. Sadly, I am not one of them. I suffer from nyctophobia (fear of the dark) and it's pretty sad. I love reading about aliens, monsters, and all supernatural beings but you
can can't catch me reading about them without the lights on. People with nyctophilia generally look like this when the lights go down:
But me? I look more like


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I have noticed a lot of health hype surrounding coconut oil over the last couple years. I'm still on the fence when it comes to using it because regardless of it's "positive" health claims, it's also still very high in Saturated fat. But before I get into that, here's the 411 on coconut oil.
Coconut oil comes in a few forms; Virgin and refined.
"Virgin" coconut oil is extracted from the fruit of fresh mature coconuts without using high temperatures or chemicals; it's considered unrefined. "Refined" coconut oil is made from dried coconut meat that's often chemically bleached and deodorized. If you choose to add coconut oil to your shopping cart the next time you go shopping, be sure to go the route of "virgin" coconut oil.
Nutritionally, coconut oil is considered a saturated fat as it is solid at room temperature. One tablespoons contains nearly 12 g of saturated fat alone. Coconut oil also contains trace amounts of iron and vitamins E and K. Virgin coconut oil also may have some antioxidant properties due to phenolic compounds it contains. The reason coconut oil has been on everybody's radar is probably more so due to it's Lauric acid content. Lauric acid is a medium chain saturated fat that may potentially raise both "bad" and "good" cholesterol levels.
The bottom line? Not enough scientific studies have shown coconut oil to be effective in having an effect on cholesterol the lastest studies have shown it to have a neutral effect on cholesterol levels as opposed to a beneficial effect.
The American heart association recommends that people choose monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats like you find in nuts, seeds, and avocados. They also recommend that people try to keep their saturated fat intake to less than 7% daily to keep cholesterol levels in check.
One thing to keep in mind when cooking with oils is smoke point. Smoke point is the point at which a fat starts to break down and smoke. Once this happens, the oil loses it's nutritional properties. Oils best for frying or stir frying include oils with high smoke points like vegetable, peanut, and sesame oil. Oils best for salad dressings and dips include oils with low smoke points like flaxseed and walnut oils. Coconut oil has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor and is best used in baking and sautéing up to 350 degrees. It's also a good choice for exotic dishes like curries.
So the bottom bottom line? Only use in moderation. Get your fats from other sources like olive or canola oil, nuts, seeds, and avocados. Skip the coconut oil. If you do choose to use it, be sure to go with virgin coconut oil to reap the most nutritional benefits.


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Discussion in 'HouseRepairTalk Website Help' started by tuffy, Oct 27, 2017.
How do I fix my time by my name so it is right
Go to the top of the page under "my account", and click on edit forum options. From there scroll to date and time and adjust away....then save.
Thank you this dummy actually figured it out
Time travel............
Separate names with a comma.


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Tips and Tricks 4
Tips and tricks.
After doing this for sometime I am going to revise some suggestions.
Targets might want to consider wither or not to use their real identities or a faux identity while online. Mark was pretty open and used his real information as were some others. Over time from what I can see, targets might be better off while online using something different or in between. Eg. Anthony Brina and many others use faux names while online. I think this has worked well and might be applied depending on your situation. I have seen it now on several occasions where they think they know who a target is, and they will begin psychological targeting of the Targeted Individual they think it is. (I have seen them be wrong, and right and the effects that it has.)
This will also depend on how comfortable or uncomfortable you are with your situation. The other thing I would recommend is that if you do use Youtube.com, then do it in a way that protects your identity. Again Youtube.com can be very effective means of communication, but use it wisely.
Legal and Investigation means.
Over the course of this as you know, I have spoken to police, lawyers, investigators, community workers, individual sources, other targets, etc.
There are many different avenues that a target should try to use when seeking assistance with these covert investigations, or Cointelpro like investigations if you will.
Many targets by the time they find out what is ongoing are usually too improvised to do anything about it, but if you have the means, then you might want to try finding a private investigator, one with prior law enforcement experience, who are familiar with these Covert (Cointelpro) Investigations. (If they say they are not then maybe look elsewhere.)
For the rest who can not afford this means, you can see if you can get your Freedom of information records, keep in mind that you will often get an initial report that there is nothing being investigated, and you might have to follow up with several subsequent requests, or letters.
Going to the police as we have seen usually causes more problems, it does not mean that we should not try, but we have to be careful in our dealings with these people.
Lawyers, there are some that will take a case without proof, but again many will ask that you gather evidence first, and then take it from there.
Background checks.
As a target when doing a background check these are things to consider.
Here is some information one company provided about their background checks.
Your first step in making an informed hiring decision. We make it our business to know your business to provide a total solution for your human resource needs. From initial screening to data verification, qualitative assessment and even post-hire evaluations, we will free you to make decisions and not gather background information.
Through thorough investigations we can verify positions held, performance record, income, job skills, attitude, verify education and much more. Other optional information such as driving history, bankruptcy, financial background, and criminal records.[/quote]
Just some things to be aware of. Also some really good info from PrivacyRights.org. I think it focuses on California based background checks, but the information that can be gathered should be pretty consistent across the board.
If you take the time to read the page you will see that there is a great deal of information that can be gathered about you from a standard background checks, up to and including,
Part 2. What Is Included in a Background Check?
Background reports can range from a verification of an applicant's Social Security number to a detailed account of the potential employee's history and acquaintances. [b]There is even some evidence that employers are now searching popular social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook for the profiles of applicants.[/b]
Here are some of the pieces of information that might be included in a background check. Note that many of these sources are public records created by government agencies.
Driving records, Vehicle registration, Credit records, Criminal records, Social Security no, Education records,Court records, Workers' compensation, Bankruptcy, Character references, Neighbor interviews, Medical records, Property ownership, Military records, State licensing records, Drug test records, Past employers, Personal references, Incarceration records, Sex offender lists.[/quote]
[quote]In both of these situations, the applicant would not have the ability to obtain a copy of the background check to find out what negative information it contained. We have learned of situations where the individual remained unemployed for years, not knowing that wrongful criminal records which resulted from identity theft were the reason for the individual's failure to find employment. (Read "Identity Theft: The Growing Problem of Wrongful Criminal Records,"
So it's really important as a target that you try to find out what information is out there about yourself, you might want to conduct your own background check and records check, again if you have the means. It might not uncover anything, but it's a good place to start.
Just some things to think about.
Next time we will look into National Security Letters, the gift that just keeps on giving. I would like to thank the poster who tuned me onto these. If someone is being investigated and your information just happens to be in their possession, accidental or other wise, it could potentially put you onto a list as someone to be monitored. I am still doing the research on these, and I hope to post some good info about these next times. Just one more way society is being silenced, hushed, and turned into a zombie army of snitches, willingly or unwillingly.
Labels: background checks, cointelpro, Covert investigations, gang stalking, national security letters, Private Investigators, youtube


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There is a eco-friendly light-weight supplied by Volkswagen Company so that you can program the second technology of 2017 VW CC as a four-door coupe that should be launched for 2017 market. The followers are anticipating its arrival with the entire makeover and some areas of the car should be up-to-date. The present model was produced in 2009 and now it ought to be readily available with additional enhancements. The car are going to be offered for American market to exchange the Passat model. 2017 VW CC will use the base of new Passat B8 for its new look.
2017 VW CC specs and changes
At 2015 Geneva Motor Show, every little thing may very well be started out. The company would like to release yet another model to share the redesigned concept with this new 2017 VW CC. Not long ago, the company produced the Sport Coupe GTE concept as the mixture of evolution and revolution. The design is very nice to finish its redesign.
The fact about this car that the wheelbase is prolonged and the platform is totally new. The cabin design for this most recent edition is also increased than in advance of for the reason that the much more roomy atmosphere to offer. We also happy to find out that this 2017 VW CC is built with the greater size and wheelbase mainly because the use of MQB platform from VW. To your info, the dimension of this car is about 191.6 inches of duration that generally 10 inches lengthier compared to the current design though its wheelbase is about 118.9 inches to provide roomy cabin specifically for the rear portion. The rear roofline is decreased than ahead of making sure that the headroom in the rear aspect is a little bit lessened. The primary aspect for this coupe-sedan design is definitely a lot more pronounced than ahead of.
With the existence of Sport Coupe GTE designs included for this new 2017 VW CC, of course there will be excellent effect. It is not mainly because the propulsion models. The concept model will choose the hybrid setup and it appears to be that the most feasible engine is the V6 engine and 3.0 liter combined with two electric powered device to transmit the output through six-speed car transmission. This engine is capable to supply about 374 horsepower. In only 5 seconds, the car could speed up to 60 mph and with the electrical performance it could achieve about 32 miles. With the hybrid drive and whole thank, it reaches 754 miles.
Even though a lot of anticipations about the new 10-speeds DSG dual-clutch transmission which you will find in the new 2017 VW CC, and it will appear that the engine is going to be taken more than by the new VW Passat. Its two engines are doable. The weaker is turbocharged 2.0 liter for 200 horsepower and 207 lb-ft of torque though the more powerful is V6 engine 3.6 liter for 280 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque.
With the concept adopted from Passat B8 models coupled with the new light-weight MQB platform, 2017 VW CC might be additional complete with the most current technology programs.


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Getting My truck accident attorney To Work
Rushing. Speeding is usually a contributory Consider many accidents. If an 18-wheeler crashes into a vehicle though going about the pace limit, the results is often tragic. Instances the place wife or mom or perhaps a spouse or father die on account of dashing are much too prevalent.
It can be crucial to act with out undue delay. In New Jersey and New York, motor vehicle accident promises should be filed inside particular time durations. Also, insurance policies corporations typically commence their particular investigation of auto accidents when victims remain recovering.
When you had been not long ago involved with a car or truck accident in New Jersey, you are not alone. The truth is crashes arise all of your time on our streets and highways. In fact, through a modern five-calendar year period of time, the state noticed:
A: In most cases, these types of truck accidents are due to a combination of an average professional truck's features and performance abilities (like boundaries linked to acceleration, braking, and visibility) in addition to a passenger car or truck driver's ignorance of characteristics.
Q: I had been wounded in a huge rig accident where by the opposite driver was at fault. Can I acquire revenue for time I missed at operate?
Lawyers, forensic engineers, accident reconstruction specialists and Other people need to have to work jointly to uncover and assess proof.
Immediately after this the regulation organization performs to receive their consumer compensated for his or her personal injury truck accident attorney or loss by first sending a need letter to the business and if required having the case to court.
Men and women often confuse car accident attorneys for truck accident attorneys. It is vital to note, even so, that deciding on the proper attorney, with the correct experience, might make all the primary difference in the result of one's circumstance.
New Jersey regulation requires a legal declare to generally be submitted within a particular time period. This can be called the statute of constraints.
We just lately settled two conditions for purchasers who were hit by semitrailers although Driving a motorbike. In each of those situations, our client misplaced a limb, in one situation a leg was amputated, in the opposite an arm.
For more information about truck accident studies or to speak with a certified attorney about your possible assert, Make contact with truck accident legal professionals right now.
Federal regulation requires that trucking firms preserve proof, but just for a certain time period. Proper after a crash involving a semi truck, you require an attorney to deliver a spoliation letter. With out this letter, the trucking business could possibly lawfully demolish the path of guilt.
We've managed a lot of, lots of circumstances like this, specifically scenarios in which mother and father have sued on behalf in their younger kids.
Solution legal responsibility (automobile defect) – Two years with the date on which The idea with the assert was learned (or ought to have been reasonably discovered).}


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This is enough to make anyone cranky, much less a sleep deprived mommy of an 11 day old! Our living room has been torn up and full of workers since Tuesday. Avery and I have been hanging out in our bedroom and we're starting to go a little stir crazy.
I have high hopes that it will get finished tomorrow!


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52133747156837502562018-06-13T14:09:48.052+05:30The Pregnant ThoughtOn a HIYER ground...harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-9548712230769759842015-11-16T21:03:00.002+05:302015-11-16T21:03:45.232+05:30Mourning Paris, Prejudice and Intellectual Snobbery

I have been pouring over reactions and news reports in the aftermath of the terror attack in Paris all weekend. Everything about the attack was chillingly similar to the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. That is why, despite having taken place in an entirely different continent, somehow this attack hit home. I almost felt personally affected by it.

Now, before you dismiss me as yet another bleeding heart fairy or haul me over the coals for my selective mourning and remind me of Beirut and Baghdad, Kabul and Kashmir, Aleppo and Assam…before you label me a pseudo-intellectual, sickular Conghi…take a deep breath. Think before you vociferously accuse me or any of your fellow Indians, coloured residents of the third world, of having dissociated ourselves from our brown cousins to favour the 'white first world'.

This article was published in TheQuint. To read the entire article CLICK HERE

harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-79915584719884695892015-11-16T20:57:00.001+05:302015-11-16T20:57:24.342+05:30I am a Feminist. And it is not a bad thing

... Now let's take a look at Twinkle Khanna's arguments about female fetuses being stronger than male ones, and therefore likelier to be born alive. Here's the thing Mrs Funny Bones. While you have your science right, our country still has social evils like female feticide and infanticide. You say women tend to live longer than men. True. But that's only if they are not burned for dowry or killed in the name of 'honour'. I understand you are all empowered women, but please recognize the fact that most girls are deprived of education, proper nutrition and equal wages in our country, this despite legal recourse. It isn't just poor and uneducated women who need feminism. Highly educated women from privileged sections of society also need feminism in India.

This article was published in TheQuint. To read the entire article CLICK HERE

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-24287925317088496212015-11-16T20:49:00.001+05:302015-11-16T21:04:30.583+05:30Hillary Rodham Clinton: She Is Not Shouting, She Doesn't Need to

I love people, powerful people. I'm fascinated by people who are go-getters. Needless to say that I feel increasingly drawn to Hillary Rodham Clinton a.k.a HRC who famously declared, "I'm a progressive who likes to get things done".

I'm drawn to her because she is not afraid of facing the truth. HRC has been through several trials by fire, the most recent being the Benghazi hearings. I like how she always stays calm and never fails to make a point. She does not pontificate or mouth coma-inducing platitudes. HRC always has real solutions, a solid plan and hard arithmetic backing for everything she says or does, minus drama and melodrama. That inspires confidence.

This article was published in TheQuint. To read the entire article CLICK HERE

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-28092307313810787722015-11-16T20:45:00.000+05:302015-11-16T20:45:00.049+05:30Radhe Maa's Piety and Why We Are Offended By Her

I have always been intrigued and enamoured by powerful yet flawed women. Whether they are tinsel-town goddesses or every day mango-women, I love the magnificent, confident, captivating creatures that they are! As a young boy I gave my heart to Manju from Chaalbaaz, a lovable rogue and a complete badass. I grew up to fall hard for Jab We Met's Geet who was at once careless, carefree, sensitive and talkative. I'm also madly in love with reality television's gift to India, the boisterous, bombastic and very real Rakhi Sawant. I refuse to be hypocritical like most people, who probably binge watched Rakhi Ka Swayamwar in private, and then had the gall to call her a drama queen in public!

This article was published in TheQuint. To read the entire article CLICK HERE

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-85436399284332665922015-11-16T20:36:00.001+05:302015-11-16T20:36:13.283+05:30It's Not About What Does or Doesn't Make Gandhi Great

They say, a herd is only as fast as its slowest member. A predator always attacks the last animal in the herd. This helps improve the health of the herd by weeding out the weakest. Now think of social evils as predators and our society as a herd. Socially and economically disadvantaged people always suffer more than those who are more in control of their lives and finances.

But we are (supposedly) evolved animals. We cannot leave this lot behind, so that they can be weeded out of our lives. We cannot wish poverty and misery away, just because its unsightly existence contaminates the beauty of the landscape we want to paint for ourselves. We have to empower those who are challenged, because we are human. And, Gandhi, both note-wala and Rajkumar Hirani-wala taught us this.

This article was published in TheQuint. To read the entire article CLICK HERE.

harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-81415772316675762532015-11-16T20:32:00.000+05:302015-11-16T20:32:14.891+05:30Why the Meat Ban is Misguided and Difficult to Digest

Bans only antagonize people, sometime so much, that they will purposely do the banned stuff anyway just to further antagonize the people who asked for the ban in the first place. They think, "How dare he tell me what to eat? Now I will eat in front of him... Rok sakko toh rok ke dikhao". It's a messed up version of the boy eloping with the girl, just after the girl's father has forbidden them from ever meeting again, in a cheesy Hindi movie from the 80s. Suddenly I have Neelam, Govinda and Amrish Puri on my mind… but I digress.

This article was published in TheQuint. To read the complete article CLICK HERE.
harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-49988635710419178312015-11-16T20:24:00.002+05:302015-11-16T20:24:39.137+05:30To the Australian Boy With the Tattoo – I Am Ashamed

Dear Matt,

This evening when I read an article, I couldn't stop myself from writing to you. And since what happened with you was in full public view, I would not be a coward and write you a mail, that would coyly land in your inbox.

Matt, you must have heard that my country is known for its pluralistic values. You must have read that India is a land of varied cultures, enshrined in the value of unity in diversity. I belong to a country that has always taught me - 'Athithi Devo Bhava', which means, 'Guests should be treated like God'.

This article was published in TheQuint. To read the entire article please CLICK HERE
harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-76402854468302939602015-11-16T20:21:00.001+05:302015-11-16T20:21:28.995+05:30Baba Ramdev, Families of Choice and the Middle East

... In fact, I decided to give Patanjali products a shot to see if they could actually help me get rid of my homosexuality. I wondered if Baba's concoctions could un-gay me. Far from it. Not only did they fail to kill my libido or my interest in men, they made me feel a special kind of spiritual connection with my own sexuality. I was never a Vaasna ka Pujari, but now I'm actively looking for my Mann Mandir Ka Devtato put a Var Mala aound his neck! I want to do 'Haath Peele' before I do 'Mooh Kaala'. Infact Baba Ramdev's Yoga positions have made me more flexible. I'll be sure to send him a thankyou note after my Suhag Raat, if my Pati Parmeshwar is pleased with my performance (wink! wink!)

This article was published in TheQuint. To read more CLICK HERE

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-66722782915267550492015-11-16T20:17:00.002+05:302015-11-16T20:17:19.595+05:30Love, Sex Ed & Prejudice in the Age of Innocence
"Tch tch… What is this world coming to?" lamented an old man sitting next to me on the train to work. "14-year-old children are… are…". He couldn't even bring himself to complete the sentence. He was reacting to a newspaper report on how the average age of first sexual intercourse in India is 14 years.

Love starts brewing at a young age, so does the understanding of sex.
But instead of angrily dismissing it as "14-year-olds have no business having sex", it is important to educate and disseminate information regarding sex and sexuality to children and young adults. Mainly because it is a wild perverted world out there and one needs to have good control over the mind and body during the growing up years.
This article was published in TheQuint. To read more CLICK HERE

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-3347356554017616612015-11-16T20:13:00.004+05:302015-11-16T20:13:38.099+05:30Here's Why I Am Turning Vegan for a Month
...November is 'World Vegan Month' and I am giving it a shot. I'm vegetarian, but have decided to take another step forward to fulfill a promise made to every furry friend I have had. I'm going vegan. To be vegan is to rid one's diet of not just chicken, meat, sea food or eggs but all animal products including dairy and even honey!

I owe this to Jimmy… to his love and how it has been a blessing to me and my kind for as long as I can remember. Jimmy was my dearest friend and confidante. He was a bow-wow, who helped me deal with my insecurities and fears of a disturbed childhood ridden with several rapes, financial crises and loneliness. All it took for this loving canine to heal me, was listening to me with commitment and compassion as I unloaded some of my heaviest burdens.

Whenever I came back home, Jimmy would greet me with unbridled joy. But when he could sense that something was weighing me down, Jimmy would gently lead me to my room and insist that I shut the door. He would rub his head under my chin and urge me to share my anguish with him....

This article was published in TheQuint. To read more CLICK HERE
harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-21759672346044335042015-11-16T20:07:00.004+05:302015-11-16T20:07:45.178+05:30Of Devious Devis and Devilish Divas

...Yes, the Sheena story was responsible for Indrani finally losing sheen, but it also highlighted our typical Indian tendency to humiliate women who have had more than one male partner. "She had so many husbands, she was shrewd," the neighbourhood gossip would wonder aloud as her kitty-party friends nod their heads meaningfully. Indrani has already been pronounced guilty by a section of the news media and society on account of her allegedly colourful personal life even before the actual trial begins. We are judging her on account of her alleged indiscretions! Our collective 'decency and morality' demands that all women be (to quote my favourite red-lipped-trident wielding Radhe Maa) "Pure and Pious". Women are as capable of both good and evil as men or transpersons. Gender or even sexuality does not determine your ability to uphold the law. Why should it be so difficult for us to digest that?

Not so long ago, I read about the case of a boy being sexually abused by his mother. There again, social media was replete with posts asking, "how can a mother do this?" It is almost like saying that fathers as abusers are more palatable!....

This article was published in TheQuint. To read more CLICK HERE

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-72127960640253783632015-09-25T12:06:00.001+05:302015-09-25T12:06:20.461+05:30@TimeOutTheFilm : Cinema That Stirs Conversations #MustWatch

Time Out takes the giant leap of faith in Indian cinema. It touches on intricacies of issues that are not discussed in Indian celluloid, and does it beautifully. It is a film that holds the mirror that exposes the biases and contradictions of a supposedly evolved culture of today's times. To be true, this film may not be a classic, but this is a film with a young heart and an open mind.

It touches on the issue of acceptance of people from the point of view of Sexuality, very poignantly. The character, Mihir, essayed by Pranay Pachauriis a breath of fresh air. In this biased, hypocritical Bollywood industry, there are many who would tweet about equal rights, there are often just a handful who would really accept a film where they have to live a gay character.Pranay Pachauri despite this being his first film, had no reservations. I have interacted with this boy one on one, and find him to be truly promising, dedicated and extremely hardworking. There are some scenes where he is upset, and he doesnt have to resort to loud histrionics, he has an expressive face, and says a lot with his subtle facial expressions.

source : Dailymotion

However, Pranay is not the hero of the film. The hero of the film, is the guy who plays his younger brother, Gaurav. Gaurav, played by Chirag, in his role of this singer, guitarist, cool dude brother, excels in every aspect. His smile, his expressions of joy, his red eyes of pain and sorrow, his pissed off "kyaa hain yaaaar" all of it is endearing. He doesnt falter even once. He fits in the role, like hand in glove, like ball in socket. He seems every director's dream - who listens to every little instruction, and puts in his 110%

source: dailymotion

The ensemble cast of the film does a good supporting role cementing and holding all of the film together. The music is good, young, energetic (though I dont understand the meanings of some of the words). From an advocacy point of view, I would say, this is a great film to watch. It takes a leaf out of some of our lives, who battle against all odds to stand up for who they really are. This film focuses on growing up school days, and each of you'll fill relate to these years of thumping hormones and pumping emotions.

This. This is the true power of Cinema. It makes you think. It makes you talk about issues you never.

Kudos to team Time Out for standing up for the true meaning of cinema - one that stirs conversations. Conversations are the genesis of change.

On the flipside, Every film would need a certain setting, this film uses an upmarket, upper-class setting. This will be criticized heavily. I see this as a form of bias against the upper-class. It would be not questioned if they were shown as middle class. Or even if they were shown as in a quintessential hindi film family -a family struggling to meet its ends. This is another form of hypocrisy. The fact remains, that the upper-classness, is only a setting that the film takes, it is not the core of the film. The complexities of characters and the storyline, is true to every class. The film is not 'class'ist, but pseudo intellectuals who make this a debate about class - are truly one.

net net, please hit the theaters and watch this film - a labour of love by Rikhil Bahadur and Shachi Sharma. You will not regret it. And remember this film for long.

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-69776992221747578572015-05-05T14:54:00.001+05:302015-05-05T14:54:42.455+05:30The Great Indian Piss Fantasy

what is India's fascination with the piss.
Morarji Desai, Ex Prime Minister, drank pee to cure himself of all ailments. LINK

 Previously, Ajit Pawar, from Nationalist Congress Party, the then irrigation minister, responded to a question with an angry "if the dam doesnt have water, should I pee" LINK

Now Nitin Gadkari, proudly proclaims that the plants in his garden are watered by his pee.

While there is nothing wrong I read with Morarji Desai's pee drinking fetish. There are many in our country who like to be peed on, it is a fetish, and it is called "golden showers", well if it works for the couple, good for them.

There is something deeply antisocial about Ajit Pawar and Nitin Gadkari. I have a problem with their Pee comments. The issue with Ajit Pawar's pee is that the dam he was commenting about, was to help the poor with Irrigation, human consumption..

The issue with Nitin Gadkari's Pee advice, in which he proudly proclaims that he Leads By Example is that it is not he who waters the plants. He gets his Gardener to carry his pee to the plants. LINK

Both belong to different parties, but pee binds them together. both dictate what others should do with their pee, while their business is only to pee and offer free pee advice.

Maybe they would be irate after reading this status update of mine. may be their bhakts will be angry too...

Well, that's alright... it is always better to be pissed off, than to be pissed on!

 harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-67183989974148586932015-03-18T14:27:00.001+05:302015-03-18T14:27:06.990+05:30NDTV : Suzette Jordan was made a victim all her life, though she was a survivor...harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-19765192995493745492015-03-14T23:43:00.001+05:302015-11-16T21:12:27.062+05:30India Killed Suzette
I met Suzette Katrina Jordon around a year back at the Think Conference. (Ironically), in a panel on rape. She was scared and petrified, she had spoken on TV, but had never faced such a large and highprofile audience, she said. I went up to her to comfort her. I instantly told her I am gay so she can hug me. She laughed and said she is scared. I replied "kaiko darti hai baba, tu bhi rape victim main bhi rape victim, audience mein bhi rape victims hai.. " She was shocked and she laughed at my ice-breaker. The very day, Suzette Jordan bonded with my friends Anuja, Ranadeep and Yudhajit. We got along like a house on fire. She and I shared our stories of rape. Pain united us, as we laughed over the abuse in our lives, a cruel black humour, it was, when we were narrating the joke in our country - Rape and Child Sexual Abuse.

But we were not defeated by it, we were united by it. We refused to let our past affect us in any way. We didn't turn anti-men. We went on a hunt. She had the resilience no one could match. Later in the day, we made jokes on all the men at the conference like two gossiping college boys. We ogled, not leched, at them together, and had our bets on who was gay and who was bi and who was worth a try.

After we left the conference, we kept in touch over the phone. When the infamous Tehelka rape case happened. We both reached out to the affected person. Suzette called me and told me "this is what is going to happen next with her", "she is going to be shamed"... She had her horrors of rape visiting her with every story of rape. The nirbhaya rape case got her out of the closet - she famously said "I AM NOT THE PARK STREET RAPE VICTIM. I AM SUZETTE JORDAN". She was reminded again at Tehelka, and followed up with me, asking me to follow up with the ex-tehelka complainant, as she was too overwhelmed with emotions every time when she spoke to her.

Suzette loved her daughters. She wanted to get them introduced to me and have a house on fire. When she was here for shooting for the Satyamev Jayate episode, we had a chance to meet. But we couldn't as she was here for a very short while. Satyamev Jayate is hush-hush in its recordings.But i was pre-informed about her visits, because the world knew that we were like love-birds separated by a few seas. I missed a chance to meet her, and she cursed me for that.

In the meantime, we had more tragedies. While she put up a real brave front, I used to tell her that she could let herself loose and cry. I used to call her and joke and laugh. Laugh until she started crying about her psychological unrest. There were secrets that only I knew. I have no qualms in letting them out now. Suzette was really upset about the fact that she was treated like an accused in the rape case. Mamata Banerjee, called her the enemy of the state. She accused her of lying about her rape to tarnish the image of the Trinamool Congress government. She was called a hooker whose client had harsh sex with her. If all of this was not enough, she was treated with absolute contempt inside the court. She told me that the "FEMALE" judge behaved with her very rudely with absolute lack of empathy. Her court case appearances were unending. She was asked to narrate her incidence again and again as the defense looked for discrepancies in her then and now statements. She was determined to fight it out even if it meant that she would be shot dead or raped again. She was a fighter. But people took her strength for granted. People forgot that she was human and she had the right to cry. She didnt want to be brave all the time. She didnt want to be the inspiration all the time. She was a normal person. She wanted to be seen as a normal average joe though she had the worst humiliations to face. One incident that affected her so badly, was when her undergarments that she was wearing when she was raped were paraded openly. The defense lawyer held it with a stick... and asked her if it was her undergarments .. and was she wearing this on that day when she was "allegedly" raped. She told me that she broke down in court and pleaded to the judge asking her to intervene. The judge, one of her own gender, did not.

This one incident was one of the most devastating ones in Suzette's life. She described it as "I WAS GANG RAPED. AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN IN COURT". She wanted to hold me and cry. I would coyly get her to laugh at her tragedy everytime we spoke. Once when she was too upset with the defense lawyer, i asked her "Was the Lawyer HOT". And she started giving me horrible hindi abuses in jest. We both addressed each other by the tragedy - "Hello Can I Speak To Rape Victim" is how we would begin our conversations and laugh before we cried.

She was not raped by some gang of perverted men. She was raped by the people of this country. She was raped by the law process of our country. She was raped by each one of you who doubted her story. Some time back, she was denied entry into a restaurant called @Ginger, in KOLKATA because *She was a rape victim*. There was an outrage on twitter and FB when she spoke up. But actually, the restaurant staff was only holding a mirror to the attitude of people in our country. For us rape is a cause, and rape victim is a story. Rape is something that happens to the person on TV, or someone you read on the news, Rape doesn't happen in our homes. We live in a world of denial. Suzette died today at 3 AM. Correction : India murdered Suzette with their mindset and attitude towards women and survivors of rape.

She died of meningitis. We all know that once depression bites you, you become a reservoir of diseases. In the end, she listened to me. I used to tell her "it is okay to go weak sometimes. It is okay to give up fighting and love yourself just as yourself. It is okay to just "Be"". She allowed herself to be. She stopped breathing. Her heart stopped beating. She passed away.

if she was really empowered. If people didnt judge her. If the lawyers didnt ill-treat her in court, if the female judge was sensitive to a person similar to her own anatomy, if the restaurant didnt throw her out, if people didnt judge her. She would have survived. or for that matter, died happily.

India Killed Suzette. You killed her.

Things have to change. I demand judicial reforms. No woman should be humiliated like Suzette was in court. NO ONE.

FACEBOOK POST | MUMBAI MIRROR  | DNA | SCROLL|The News Minute| The Logical Indian | HUFFPOST

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-59162623721471633502015-03-07T19:00:00.001+05:302015-03-07T19:00:12.548+05:30Darr / डर - A True Storyharish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-5906369013322084662015-03-07T18:53:00.001+05:302015-03-07T18:53:19.054+05:30Tara Sharma in conversation with Lillete Dubey, Harish Iyer & Moms | Se...harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-6817147116462056342015-03-07T18:41:00.001+05:302015-03-07T18:41:43.110+05:30Economist : Being gay in Indiaharish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-2363797892893346062015-03-07T18:38:00.001+05:302015-03-07T18:38:53.107+05:30India's Unending Battle Against Sexual Abuseharish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-16291073011836088912015-03-02T01:50:00.000+05:302015-03-02T01:50:35.990+05:30Dum Laga Ke Haisha : An Ode To Women

I am just back home after watching a Dum Lagaa Ke Haishaa. And boy! How disappointed I am! I mean how can such a film not have a budget for promotions. Does Yash Raj Films only promote films that have the Rani of their house in it? If there is a film that's truly a feather in the cap of Yash Raj Films, it is THIS ONE. I mean, Dum Lagaa Ke Haishaa. <o:p></o:p>

The film is an ode to women in our country. The story in short - The film is set in the Varanasi of the 90s. Prem Prakash Tewari is a tenth fail who is forced to marry a fat woman – Sandhya Verma. The woman is a graduate, his family lies about Ayushman's qualification, to match her. They get unhappily married, and they are doomed to a life of being unhappily married forever. Sandhya but discovers that Prem has been forced to marry her when she catches him red handed in an angry rant to his friends about how his wife is as fat as a buffalo. She leaves him, but not before slapping him and getting slapped at that very moment. What follows is a series of dramatic turns that I want you to watch and experience for yourself. <o:p></o:p>

A film has a soul of its own. This film has a soul and a heart and a mind of its own. The Hindi film industry is not known to be respectful towards women. She is either a devi or the devil, never the average Joanna you meet everyday. This film does just the opposite. It gives you a peek into the life of an average looking plump woman who is at complete ease with how she looks. She agrees to an arranged marriage, but holds the reigns of it in her able hands. Even the groom gets married to her with no dowry, in awe with her qualifications as she could financially uplift the family in crisis. While widespread misogyny is captured in the terms of expectations from a woman, the film also captures the fact that a woman could be empowered with education to take a stand. A woman can be in complete ease of her body and doesn't have to turn to size zero for her hubby dearest. Sandhya, the character, also reserves her right to sexual desires, and is in control of what she expects from life. She battles misogynistic mindsets from the women in her maternal home and sasural ably. She doesn't mind telling her father-in-law that he did no right by getting his son forcefully married to her. She doesn't mind reclaiming her room from her younger brother, when she returns home, determined to divorce her husband. She is in control throughout. She does feel bad, she does express that she feels insulted, but she doesn't resign to a life of self-pity ever, she rather does the opposite. She reclaims her life and takes her freedom. <o:p></o:p>

The film is set in 90s, but is relevant even for this era. Given this, why the director chose the 90s as a theme to set the film in is not apparent in the film, but nevertheless, it is one of the most enjoyable things. Production wise, A lot of effort has been put in to set every frame in the 90s. The film also has the male protagonist named Prem which was the most popular name then, thanks to Salman Khan and Sooraj Bharjatya. I wonder why there has been no opposition from Right Wing Groups, considering that this film shows Half Chaddi Boys of RSS in a not so very flattering way. <o:p></o:p>

After Queen that released last year, this film marks the beginning of roles that are Women Empowering and that too without giving us any gyan on Nari Shakti and stuff.

Watch this film and you will agree with me that Bhumi Pednekar deserves every award. Ayushman is kiss-worthy. Sheeba, as the nasty Bua is another star worthy of every award. This film may not have 'london thumakda" moments, like in Queen. But makes a strong case for valuing self worth just as Queen does. Though no one can match a kangana doing a Rani in Queen, Bhumi takes the character of Sandhya to heights of brilliance. This is the kind of performance that could easily make a classroom study for young actors who wish to learn about the nuances of acting. She is too good. <o:p></o:p>

Lastly, this is one movie where you will wait till the credits finally roll. Why? Watch the film and find out. Believe me, it is worth your money. This is the kind of film that should be released on 08 March. This is a piece of art, a mark of brilliance. <o:p></o:p>

DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR, WATCH THIS MASTERPIECE. <o:p></o:p>

harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-87331776870510743252015-01-21T00:42:00.001+05:302015-01-21T00:42:13.564+05:30The Non-Crazy Part Of The Crazy Cukkad Family
Just out of the screening of Crazy Cukkad Family. Cinema is an instrument of change. This small film in the midst of mega budget multicrore films manages to leave an indelible mark in the mind of the viewer.

It is remarkable to note that a film that is comically themed on human greed, very substantially makes a point about human nature and human need of love. This is the first film I have seen besides my own - Amen, that shows a homosexual couple in a happily-ever-after moment. The film makes a makes a poignant point without no taste of preachiness about acceptance of a Gay Couple and that of a cross dressing straight man. The cherry on the cake is a scene where a gay marriage is shown alongside a heterosexual marriage with no shoo-sha or humour.

In a sharp contrast it doesn't show gay people as cheaters or losers or diseased or specially gifted. The characters are shown at par with the heterosexual counterparts, as greedy and selfish and as human as everyone else in the ensemble cast. It normalises and equalises same sex relationships.

This film portrays that in a greedy dysfunctional crazy and abnormal family too, the most normal thing is being gay. It is not an 'issue' or a 'cause', the character is just gay. As simple as it reads here. In a nation where Bollywood is a religion, crazy cukkad family would definitely be placed on the pedestal for the healthy depiction of queer content.

If you are LGBT especially, do yourself a favour - watch this film.
 harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-14135112938032425552014-12-23T10:41:00.002+05:302014-12-23T14:40:23.677+05:30@DNA, humanity beyond journalism

Yesterday night I had one of the most scary experiences of my life. I am a regular with the mumbai local and contrary to the regular criticism about the mumbai locals, I am in fact a great lover of my daily travels to work in my beloved Mumbai local. Besides being economical, quicker and pollution free, it is also a great reservoir of stories of empathy, community spirit and in general, human nature.

But every service has its pit falls and slip ups. I embarked on my regular late night train travel from Reay Road station. It was just another late day at work. I took the train at 1140 to panvel. I boarded the first class compartment which had a dozen odd people. The train went smooth sailing in complete steam till chunabhati station... A little beyond chunabhati it suddenly stopped. It didn't bother me much as delay is the middle name of Harbour Line of the central railways but as it took longer, it was getting frustrating. There were young commuters, presumably in their mid twenties who jumped down the train and walked from the deserted place where the train had stopped towards kurla station. There was an aged man who was in the train who was unable to jump and walk the tracks. I decided to stay with him in the train. In half an hour, the compartment just had the aged man and me, or so, I thought. I was wrong, just behind my seat was a young man who in all possibility was a drug addict who was in no control of his senses. He was continuously blabbering that he will kill, he will bomb and slaughter those who ill treated him. The immediate emotion was not of scare but of empathy, but as silences enveloped the compartment and his voice got stronger along with the the whistling of the untimely wind, the other emotion took over. It was 01:10 am the dead of the night. I was glad that i was in a city that never sleeps, but the ones who were awake were better sleeping. I wanted to get down the train the train, but as I peeped out of the train, there were a group of drunken rowdies who were howling louder than rabid wolves. The thought of risking them did pass my mind, but then i looked back at the aged gentleman, he wouldn't be able to jump to the tracks and walk right till the station. We were clearly trapped between the devil and the deep sea. I chose to risk my judgements on the mentally unstable person rather.

A firm believer of "share it to diminish it, if not demolish it", I took to facebook to share my fears and that made all the difference. Within seconds there was an outpouring of empathy especially from my friends in the field of journalism. What touched me most, was that I received an immediate message from Yogesh Pawar, assistant editor of DNA offering to speak to a cop he knows at tilak nagar station. He further asked me to take a cab and come down to his place and that his wife and he would be happy to have me over and also treat me with some sambhar rice. It was 1ish in the night. It is easy to dismiss something as lip service, but he was serious. He also spoke to me over the phone and ask me not to be heroic but understand that anyone in such a situation could be vulnerable. As I took a few minutes more to decide the train miraculously started surging ahead. I dont believe much in god, unless I need to ask something from no one but the universe and need to put a figurative name for an unknown force there, but I am a firm believer in the genesis of good vibes and thoughts that manifest in positive reactions. Thanks to people like yogesh, in a world increasingly ridden with slaughter and hatred, the total sum of positivity will always remain a constant.

Thank you Yogesh. And congrats DNA and the Zee Media Group for having him as a part of your family.

Yogesh, you have covered many human interest stories in your life that have pushed the envelope of equality, empathy and justice, I thought the best way to say thank you for what you did yesterday would be to reply to your kindness in the same written word.

(I know this post maybe ridden with grammatical errors, but I'd rather keep it in its virgin heartfelt firstthoughts form)

harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-83954544003424690142014-11-03T00:50:00.000+05:302014-11-03T00:56:33.677+05:30Sometimes I wish upon a star
One of those nights where after nursing the wounds of the world, I find time to feel my own.

Sometimes, one does go through gloomy phases in life when you feel lonely in a world that you are way too known. Well, its a popular perception that people who are known are surrounded by people all the while and are lucky in matters of lust and love. Well, it is a myth. Most often the inverse is true.

I'm in no haste in falling in love or anything, (one mistake in haste is a good lesson) but I do feel the pang of lying alone under the moonlit sky. I do feel that one day, I find someone to share this space with.

#randomramblings
 harish iyerhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-28957674505931154952014-10-31T09:29:00.001+05:302014-10-31T09:29:43.793+05:30The "Woh" is a Man

 The Bangalore Case where the husband cheated on the wife with another man raises a few eye brows and many questions

Read about the case here : http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/cover-story/Sec-377-slapped-on-Infosys-techie-after-wife-catches-his-gay-acts-on-spycam/articleshow/44964745.cms

1) I empathize with the wife, I really do, but is slapping 377 on the husband justified?

2) Would we have slapped 377 on this guy if the guy cheated on his wife with another woman and the wife caught them in 'unnatural acts'...as per the legal parlance?

3) Would the trauma the wife suffered be any less or any different if the 'woh' was a woman.

4) The media revealed the name of the employer and other details which makes it easy to identify the husband. Would the case be any less serious if the husband worked at the barber shop and not an IT firm? Would they have dared to do the same if it was the wife who was the culprit?

5) We take a moral high ground when it comes to cheating on your partner, cross your hearts and tell me, haven't you ever cheated?

6) It takes me ages to argue with the police and get a simple FIR for stalking a woman registered. Who are these lovely policemen who register a 377 on a infidelity case?

7)I stand for equal rights. If the wife feels cheated - grant her divorce. If the husband caused mental trauma - demand alimony. But slapping 377, isnt it stretching this too far with malicious intent?

8) Also the journalism stoops to a new low here. Why reveal the identity of the man?

I received a string of Whatsapp messages from a friend who championed women rights and thought the man deserved no sympathy because he 'cheated'. He stopped sending me messages when I asked him "weren't you in a relationship with someone when you were giving me a blowjob some years back? "

We are a homophobic and hypocritical society. Hence proved.

 harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213374715683750256.post-42736228690704696952014-10-30T20:36:00.001+05:302014-10-30T20:36:22.189+05:30A bit of me on the stage, and a bit of you.
How does one feel when a part of your body stands in front of you live and alive in flesh and blood?

Martin's play - the tricky part, trickles down your spine leaving chill and thrill down your spine at the same time. It is a play that has four characters on stage - a stool, a book, a photograph and Martin.

So human his play is that you dissolve in it completely.

While Martin inspires the world and people call it 'courage' , to me it is his way of therapy and finding himself by connecting the dots of the past and the present is what is most inspiring.

Post the play, martin and I took questions from the audience. Modesty has never been my nature, so while you make your judgments allow me my moments of pride. It was happy to note from the counsellors present in the audience, that some survivors read my posts and look up to me. While I scare some people by holding a mirror to their past that they would rather not address, I also am seen as the level , the benchmark of where people want to reach in dealing with their abuse. I can tell you guys and girls and trans persons that we all set our own benchmarks. There are levels that you may reach that I aspire to be. Every case of abuse and every method of dealing with it is as diverse as chalk and cheese though it looks very similar in some angles. Martin's life or mine is a story, just a story that resonates with your life. Parts of it is true to yours, but a part of it is also unique. The paths you discover to deal with it, and rise from it will also be unique and independent to your life. Be the god of your story. Write your own happy sad story with a happiness in continuum.

 I have been planning something with a friend I am very fond of- Sapna Moti Bhavnani since quite sometime now. Rather to put it correctly we have been planning something together. But I should confess, i haven't found the courage to write down my piece completely. There are phases when I lose my train of thought. Now I will. Martin inspires me to connect the dots of my past and present.

Do yourself a favor - watch The Tricky Part. It is empowering, but more importantly, its theapeautic.
 harish iyerhttps://firstname.lastname@example.com


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I'll start by saying this was by far the least enjoyable rogaine I've done to date. This had absolutely nothing to do with the rogaine itself and everything to do with me. The weather was perfect – clear, sunny blue skies and very warm. The course was interesting and varied with plenty of options for route choice.
So what went wrong? I had a low grade cold for a few weeks leading up to the event culminating in two days of high fevers 5 days before. I only ran twice in these three weeks, so I was feeling pretty run down. This also kicked off my seasonal asthma, so everything was a bit of a struggle physically. But I woke up Sunday morning feeling good and ready to get going again. Then the babysitter didn't show up. Luckily, we plan to arrive in plenty of time, so by the time we got hold of her and she made it over we still had enough time to drive to Cronulla (traffic worked in our favour!) and some planning time. This placed a bit of stress on us though and we ended up forgetting our pre race munchies of hot cross buns and bananas – BIG mistake.
The individual competitors started off at 10am with the teams trailing after from 10:15. This worked really well to split up the pack and meant the early controls weren't overcrowded and we experienced zero queueing at controls the entire event – amazing! We jogged along as we made our way around Cronulla point – beautiful part of the world with some amazing water views and small, sandy beaches. The fast teams were all ahead of us, the walkers behind, we were collecting points as planned and keeping an easy pace. Then I hit the wall. Completely and utterly. Only 45 minutes in. This was not good.
I was exhausted, depleted and had no energy to walk anything more than a very gentle pace. Grabbed a Powerade at the first shops we passed as planned, carried it to the next control and then walked another 5 minutes before finding a spot in the shade to sit and drink it. My coordination was failing me and I hadn't been able to walk and drink, my legs were too tired to even stand. We decided to continue on, even if it meant walking the whole rest of the way.
I continued to struggle through the next couple of controls. We grabbed some chips at the next shops we went through. The following half hour was awful. My mind sunk as my body refused to play. We shuffled along, there were many pauses. I doubted my ability to run, I was convinced I should just give up my ambitions to run any sort of distances. That I was stupid to think I could possibly run a half marathon at the end of the year, that maybe I should just give up running altogether, I obviously wasn't cut out for it.
I very, very slowly started feeling a bit better, still only up for walking though. We had dropped off a couple of sections we had planned to get when we thought we would be able to run most of the way. 45 minutes to go, we stopped to reassess. I was still tired, my legs were aching so we sat down – and were promptly scolded by another pair of rogainers passing by, you don't get points sitting down!
Plan made, we walked on, pushing a little more now. My legs were hurting, I had blisters forming on the inside of both heels and was till pretty unhappy but had pulled my self out of the doom and gloom of earlier. With just under twenty minutes to go, we realised we would probably have to pick up the pace a little to get done what we wanted, so I tested the legs out. It actually felt ok! So from there we did an easy jog on flats and downhills while walking on the uphills. With about one kilometre to go, we realised we were going to have to really push things to make it back in time. Uh oh…
Up the final hill and about 600 metres to go and less than 3 minutes to go. All downhill and we ran and ran. 6min/km pace, then 5min/km pace then faster still and we were in! 40 seconds over time so we would lose 10 points, but we were certainly not the last ones in.
An interesting postscript to the event – we failed to register at one of the checkpoints. It seems that only one of us was recorded as being there. I queried it, was told basically it was bad luck and move on. No big deal, we're not competitive. Shortly after that, a follow up email said there had been more than one query on this particular control and we should challenge it. End result – it seems the control was tampered with and while it worked perfectly for most people, there were several that didn't, so we got the points. Bumping us up a decent number of positions.
End results:
- Score: 1010 points
- Distance: 16km
- Overall team position: 25/95
- Mixed teams: 12/59
- Mixed veterans: 5/19
In the end it was a surprisingly good result for what felt like a completely rotten event.


text:
One of President-elect Donald Trump's most loyal surrogate-explainers, Scottie Nell Hughes, spouted a similar line about facts that Newt Gingrich did a few days ago (ShrinkRap, Nov. 30). She was arguing that Trump's lies aren't really lies, because facts themselves no longer exist. At least Newt was a little more nuanced and knew he was engaging in academic bullshit. Here's what Hughes actually said on NPR's Diane Rehm Show:
"One thing that's been interesting this entire campaign season to watch is . . . people that say facts are facts. They're not really facts. . . . It's kind of like looking at ratings or looking at a glass half-full of water. Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth or not . . . There's no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts."
And Trump went to Indiana to claim his victory for saving 1,000 jobs at Carrier from moving to Mexico. He still hasn't said what he and Gov. Pence promised the company to keep them there -- but Trump was back into campaign mode at a rally-style even in Ohio, telling lies and stoking the crowd's anger. (sigh).
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text:
Blood of the Dragon by September and save 20%!
The woman's cackle echoed throughout the cavern she called home. Smoke from a fire burning in the middle of the enclosure wafted leisurely upward through a small hole in the ceiling. The dim glow illuminated a bier on the far side of the fire. Upon the stone lay a young man in his late teens. His brown locks, though never long, had rotted away in patches. Those that remained were matted with dirt and old blood. His midsection was covered by a single long strip of cloth, his upper and lower body bare. In the middle of his chest gaped a hole about two inches wide.
"Mistress, what if he--"
"Hush, girl. I've had enough of your doubts. I've been waiting for this day for too long. You will not spoil this for me."
The ring of flesh on flesh vibrated around the stone room, followed quickly by the girl's cry. She lay on the floor where she had fallen, hand cupping her wounded cheek as she watched the older woman bustle about the bier.
Alone as a child, starving and sick, she was on the verge of death when the woman found her. She owed the lady her life and gave her loyalty freely, but the lack of respect she received smoldered deep in her soul, waiting for the right moment to make her true feelings known. She stared at the mud-caked skirts that floated around her master's legs and thought of all the beatings and other punishments she had endured through life. Was it worth it? Sometimes she wished she had died there on the icy road, safe from harm forever.
Instead, she had ended up in the clutches of Rivanna, a Gypsy woman cast out from her own society, labeled a witch and shunned for all eternity. The wagon had seemed like a saving grace at the time. A decade later, the girl knew better.
"Veni, you lazy wretch! Quit moping about and bring me the Night's Breath!"
Veni jumped at the raspy, demanding voice and staggered to her feet. She half-ran to the shelf along one wall and scanned its contents. Finding a purple clay jar with a matching lid, she grabbed it, holding it securely in both hands, and took it to the woman. Rivanna grinned and Veni's lips curled involuntarily at the sight. She had seen those rotted teeth and black gums more times than she cared to remember. Rivanna was at least partially insane and tended to grin and cackle whenever she thought of, attempted, failed, or succeeded in an evil plan.
As the older lady poured the Night's Breath into the bubbling pot next to the bier, Veni surveyed the man laying on the stone. She had been with Rivanna at Rona six months before, watching the battle of the skies play out. They stayed in the woods, waiting. Rivanna had a plan, but it had not been shared with Veni. The girl had cowered behind a tree, terrified as fire, acid, and blood rained from the air. When the attack was over and the bodies buried or burned, the pair ventured from their hideout to seek out the graves.
Veni's stomach balked at her actions as she helped Rivanna unearth the fresh corpses. When the first one surfaced, the girl lost the battle with her insides and her small meal found its way to the ground before her. Hours later, she was starving, tired, and dirty, and they had six bodies--two women and four men. They loaded them onto the wagon for the trek back to the cave where Rivanna did all her more violent magic.
Over the course of the last six months, they had destroyed all but one of the corpses. The young man now lay before her, his handsome features rotting away despite Rivanna's attempts to keep him in stasis. Veni stared at him, wondering what he was like when he was alive and if he had a lover or wife. Maybe he had children, even, and his death brought horrible sadness to all those who lost him.
The girl took the glass vial that the old woman shoved into her hands. It was filled with a putrid black liquid that was still hot. Veni's hand burned and threatened to release the glass, but she had long ago learned the penalty for such an accident. She gripped the vial tightly and gritted her teeth before pouring the concoction into the man's mouth. Stepping back, she stood behind Rivanna, wishing desperately to be out of reach when the inevitable failure became clear.
Minutes passed in silent waiting. Rivanna stared expectantly at the body on the table, fidgeting with her stained skirts. A growl rose slowly in the woman's throat as time dragged on with no signs of life. She stepped up to the corpse and poked at the chest hard.
Rivanna jumped back, her black eyes growing wide in her wrinkled face. Veni watched from the side as a vile grin began to grow across the spotted lips. Rivanna stepped forward, peering at the man, and poked him again.
This time the moan was louder and his fingers twitched. His eyes shot open, darting wildly around the room, not focusing on anything in particular. The woman's grin threatened to split her face.
"Hello, my love." She perched on the edge of the bier next to the young man and stroked his face. "Welcome back."
His wide eyes settled on her, terror showing in them. His lips moved, but nothing came out. Veni watched him attempt to lift an arm, but it was tied down and he moved it only a fraction.
"What's your name, darling?" Rivanna was still stroking the partially rotted face, cooing as if to a lover. It made Veni sick to watch.
The man mumbled something incoherent and Rivanna frowned. "Well, close enough. I'll call you Rul."
As the witch began untying his bonds, Veni shrank into the darkest corner she could find.


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Thursday, May 14, 2009
stop n glow
Trifecta Gallery
[in the Arts Factory]
103 E. Charleston #108
Las Vegas, NV 89104
stop n glow
Catherine Borg
Todd Vonbastiaans
Evan Dent
Stephan Hendee
Brian Porray
Sean Russell
Danielle Kelly
through May 29
"The RTC [Regional Transportation Commission], City of Las Vegas and Clark County, worked with local artists to add artistic enhancements to the new ACE rapid transit shelter windscreens at seven locations. Their imagery evokes ideas about Las Vegas history and iconography. TRIFECTA is exhibiting the current works from these artists in order to show the development in the studio since the beginning of the Stop n Glow Bus Shelter Project. In tandem, the Stop n Glow exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center shows the process on how an artists work can translate into public art projects."
[text and graphic from Trifecta website. Caption: Brian Porray. l-r: I have Nothing But Attention When I Scream; sold; Heavy Rotation; Can't Feel A Thing. 97" x 8." oil on canvas." Click on image to enlarge.]
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text:
Another black hole – Illegal Immigration (Part 2)
I am against illegal immigration because it drains America of needed resources. America has some socialist programs in place; mostly welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, social security and public education. The idea behind these programs is to help people who need it. They are, unfortunately, abused. I do not like the idea of being taxed so that a Mexican family getting paid cash working a minimum wage job can send their children to a free public school, collect welfare, get free health care and send all their spare money out of our economy and back to Mexico. I suppose that sounds callous, which is probably where people get the idea that conservatives are selfish and heartless. It is more than that, though. It isn't my desire to force a family to live in poverty so I can go out to eat once a month or own a bigger home. It is the principle of the program. A system like that cannot support itself, which is self-evident in the fact that the government is trillions of dollars in debt. A government cannot endlessly tax to provide for a class that does nothing but consume. It will eventually implode on itself, and no one will have enough to support themselves.
Maybe you think I'm being melodramatic. We can quickly look at some of the ways they consume American tax dollars. Now, being illegal immigrants they are hard to track and so there are not many reliable numbers concerning how many there are, how many are in the schools, how many rent compared to buying housing, how many have jobs, etc. So, I will just assume it is a lot. I have lived in Northern Indiana, my hometown was almost 20% hispanic. Now I live in Provo, Utah. I've never lived in Arizona, New Mexico or Southern California, but I have still seen many Hispanics in places I wouldn't have expected to have a high Hispanic population. What does this cost America?
In the last decade schools have exploded with Spanish speaking students. These schools need to hire additional teachers to hold English as a Second Language classes. I have taught at schools where some students spend half the school day away from their normal classroom to spend time with specialized teachers they can communicate with. Some schools have had to hire several additional teachers, some only need one or less if they don't have Spanish speakers in the school system. But, if it is an average of one additional teacher at every school in America that is hundreds of thousands of jobs supported by tax payers. Each teacher is paid an average of $35,000 a year, possibly more because being bilingual is a special skill. That is all tax dollars. I had a substitute job for a few days as a replacement 'special' teacher. I don't know exactly what the job title was, but there was a classroom with about twelve teachers who spent the whole day working individually with students who needed additional help. These teachers would have 45 minute sessions with students, so they each helped about six students a day. In the days I worked there at least five of the six students I worked with were Hispanic. These 'specialized' teachers were paid a higher salary and taught less students, most of whom were not American. Schools with programs like these are expending vast time and resources on students whose families are not contributing to educational costs. I don't know how many Hispanic students there are in America. I substitute taught for about a year and a half; in that time I came into contact with at least a couple of hundred. In a few schools in Provo, Utah, there are hundreds of Hispanic students. If you're reading this blog in order, you know that the government spends an average of $9,000 per student, per year. If there are hundreds of Hispanics in this one small city, imagine how many there are across the nation. Imagine how many billions of your tax dollars are being spent to educate all these students. The estimate in California alone is $7.7 Billion just in educational costs for illegal immigrants and illegal immigrant children.
Educational costs are severe, and to me they seem to be largely wasted. I have taught hundreds of students, and I have observed several kinds of attitudes. There is a pretty clear line for dividing students into two groups. When I announced an assignment, when I gave directions to get out paper or begin reading, when I would tell students to take notes or work on a problem, some of the students would follow my instructions and some of the students would ignore me. In an average classroom of 30 students, about five to six students would simply disregard my instructions. If there were five Hispanic students in the classroom, four of the five would be in the group that ignored me. If there were ten hispanics in the room, eight of them would ignore me. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince Hispanic students to pay attention and complete their work. Most of them seemed determined to learn as little as possible. This is not to say that no Hispanic students worked, some of them listened attentively and finished their assignments. They were the minority. There were also Caucasian students who fell into the group of students who refused to work; they were also the minority.
I sincerely don't understand this. As far as I can tell, Liberals believe that Hispanics are much harder working than Americans, as they repeat over and over that Hispanics are willing to do jobs Americans wont. I don't know why, then, their children seem as a group to be much less determined. I have a theory, but it is nothing more than a theory (like the theory of Evolution) and may be completely wrong. I think that many Hispanic families come here at great personal sacrifice to give their children a better life. They grew up working hard to get by in Mexico, they traveled here illegally bringing their children or having children once they crossed the border. They do work hard, long hours at low paying jobs while living in relatively bad conditions in order to give their children a better life. I think that they are too busy working to teach their children how to work. They came here so their children wouldn't have to work as hard as they do, so they don't mind letting their children grow up without a sense of work ethic. Their children grow up with the mentality that they are in America so America can provide a better life for them, but never learn to work for themselves. Their parents may tell them that it is important to work hard, but what they see is their parents going to jobs they hate while collecting benefits the government is all to happy to hand out, while being indoctrinated by the American mentality of entitlement and self-indulgence. Which means that the next generation will be worse.
Like I said, I don't know if this is right. I don't like assuming that a group of people is lazy (like liberals assuming that Americans are too lazy to take hard jobs). I just can not think of another explanation for what I have seen in the schools I have taught at.
I am also going to reference another story I read in Larry Elder's book "The Ten Things you Can't Say in America." He met a friend on a street corner once by a skating park. They watched the skaters for a few minutes, who were doing impressive tricks on their boards. The group was almost entirely Hispanic. They were standing in front of a library, which they went into. The library was completely packed with Asian students, who were sitting and standing, reading and studying.
That example very clearly epitomizes the different mentalities these groups hold. There is no reason why the Hispanic students couldn't be in the library as well, spending their afternoons studying and preparing so they could ex- cel in high school, taking the fullest advantage of the free education America is just giving them. They could easily go on to be college graduates, they could go on to do anything. Instead they resist their education, and spend their afternoons and evenings playing. They spend their lives consuming government resources, without ever giving back.
Education is just one drain. American hospitals can not turn away patients, even if they are unable to pay, or happen to be in our country illegally. This is, once again, the compassionate liberal rule. How could anyone con- sider withholding medical treatment from someone who needs it? Once again, I don't believe these things because I support letting people die so I can get a tax cut. I believe that providing health care to illegal immigrants hurts others. Over 100 hospitals in California have closed because they have gone bankrupt from giving so many treatments they were never paid for. There are over 50 hospitals in Florida facing similar problems. Hospitals all along the Mexican border are shutting down because they can not afford to give free treatments. Does that help the people living in the area that need access to a hospital? Does that help all the nurses, doctors, technicians, receptionists and other staff who lose their jobs when their hospital goes bankrupt? Does it help the local economy? Does it help the people who pay for their treatments when prices double and quadruple to cover the free treatments the hospitals have to give? Does it help the employees who can't get pay raises that match inflation because the hospital is struggling to not go out of business?
It is sad when people needing medical treatment can't get it. But forcing hospitals to treat people who have no way of paying a cent for it is forcing hospitals out of business, causing people to lose their jobs and negatively affecting the economy. The number of hospitals along the border going out of business shows that illegal immigration is having a huge effect. It is 'compassionate' to want to provide free treatment to sick or dying people. But it has consequences; there is no such thing as 'free'. Liberals don't think ahead to the consequences of mandating free care to every illegal alien who sneaks across the border. Conservatives do consider the costs, and don't think it is worth it.
Posted on September 8, 2011, in Illegal Immigration and tagged education costs, health care costs, illegal immigration, immigration. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
I read your blog quite regularly. I totally agree with everything you just said. My neighbor is something like 32 percent mexican, 33 percent black, and 35 percent white. 97 percent of the children in our local elementary school are on free lunch. Most of the parents work. Most of these same working parents have several children and using childcare vouchers. These were created to "help" make people recieving welfare benefits to go to work and stop being lazy. I would love to see you blog about this problem. You see the government thinks that paying $400 a week in childcare so a single mom can make $280 a week will keep people from complaining about those that use foodstamps and medicaid. In reality, by just giving that same mom her $280 they would save $120 a week. I would rather be at work because it's far easier, and I do work part-time and do what I have to do to pay rent, mostly finding things to refurbish and sell on craigslist. However I refuse to work full-time and allow the government to pay my childcare bill that exceeds what I can make earning $11.00 an hour. I don't think that everyone is lazy. It's not about being lazy, it's about being easy. I think that people come here because they can and it's easy to work when someone else is raising your kids and being paid to do so. I also know for a fact the mom across the hall has 2 foster kids and the government pays for a maid to come in. All but one of her children are older than mine. My house is lived in, but it is sanitary and I am on my 5th load of laundry which I made the detergent for yesterday. The biggest problem is they are not being required to learn to budget. Dad's aren't required to pay child support, or enough of it, and we've become a 2 income society. If my baby daddy would have kept his promise and actually married me after planning our son, money would have been tight, but the only governement help we would have gotten would have been health insurance for my oldest 4 since their dad has a court order to provide it, but never has and step-children are not covered under a lot of insurance plans. Yes, illegal immigration is costing us a ton of money, but once we kick them out, look at all the problems that are still left. Also, they may be lazy, but I have sat outside the elementary school waiting for my kids to bus back from the better elementary every day. The mexican kids are never left waiting on their parents. Yet, everyday the black and white children are often forgotten about for as much as an hour. Just an observation.


text:
A nun walks into a bar with a crow on her shoulder. I know how that sounds, but stick with me. Sister Margaret is not an ordinary nun, nor is the crow an ordinary crow. Oh, she wears the habit and carries a rosary, sure, and as far as anyone else can tell, the crow only says "caw", but they are far from ordinary.
They hunt monsters.
The bar patrons lower their voices on instinct. Many try to hide their drinks behind their hands, childhood shame taking over, but Sister Margaret is not here for them. A nervous man sits at the back of the bar at a table by himself, nursing a small glass of something clear. Sister Margaret takes a seat and the crow hops off her shoulder to sit on the table and peck at a bowl of nuts.
Despite the quiet, nobody can hear their conversation. If they could, they'd wish they hadn't. The man speaks and Sister Margaret nods, absently clicking the beads of her rosary. Her expression of grim concentration never wavers, but the muscles twitch beneath the scar on her cheek. When she nods, the man pushes a bulging envelope towards Margaret with pleading in his eyes. She opens it, removes two green notes and pushes the rest back. A vow is a vow. She takes what she needs to survive, having long abandoned the convent.
Later, in a dark alley near the man's home, Margaret crouches in the shadows, her face covered by a veil. The crow perches on a nearby fire escape. They wait a long time, until a movement alerts the crow who caws his warning. From the sewer grate crawls a shape with bulbous forearms barely a metre tall. As it passes a beam of light, Sister Margaret gets a view of the creature, and a look of hesitation crosses her features for just a second.
The creature is a child. Or, rather, it used to be a child. Now it is a hive, flesh pocked with hundreds of honeycomb cells and leaking vital fluids in its shuffling gait, mouth frozen in a silent scream. Margaret almost pitied it, until a stray cat dashed in front of it. With hands that moved too quickly to see, the monster snatched the cat and broke its neck, then bit a huge chunk out of the flesh, fur and all. The creature's distended belly squirmed with some internal activity Sister Margaret did not wish to contemplate.
Through the wet sounds of bloody mastication and the buzzing demonic insects, the crow cawed again and the thing turned its head, dead white eyes staring. Margaret wasted no time. She covered the distance in a few long steps and swung her sharp blade, beheading the creature with one swipe. The swarm buzzed about her in anger, but her veil and gloves kept her from becoming their next monstrous hive. She fogged the local area with a special blessed pesticide, and the bugs began to pop in white flashes of holy light.
When the dust had settled, Sister Margaret knelt and administered the last rites for the child, closing his eyes, covering his unrecognisable face with her handkerchief, but then pushed the body back into the sewer grate it had crawled from. The soul should have rest, but the body needed to be hidden. Her crow pecked out the eyes of the cat, and Margaret supposed that was as good as the cat was going to get from either of them.
She cleaned her blade and sheathed it somewhere beneath her habit, then she and her crow strode off to find some humble lodgings for the night.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I really like this one.
PPS - It was going to be a contest entry at Pseudopod, but now it's over the word limit.


text: It is so far an unusually pleasant May but temperatures are steadily rising. No one is more affected than roadside workers who go about their business as usual without the luxury of air-conditioning or refrigerated water. This trio, heads covered with bandanas and safety helmets, make their way off a Manama work site after a day of back-breaking labour.


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The Express Yourself! Justin Ferrari Scholarship Fund is part of the Carnegie's commitment to engage youth in the arts. This need-based scholarship supports students wishing to pursue any classes in art, dance, theater or writing at the Carnegie. With a simple application and one supporting letter from a teacher, counselor, social worker, pastor, or other adult mentor, a student can qualify for 85% tuition reduction. No young person should be denied access to creativity or self-expression because of cost! Download your scholarship application here.
The scholarship fund was established in partnership with The Jeani and John Ferrari Family Foundation in 2014, opening the door for children to pursue creative goals, explore new skills and to express themselves through the arts.
Justin Ferrari "found" himself in music. As a teenager, Justin was an avid fan of the Heavy Metal rock sound and he listened to a wide variety of music in that genre. As well as music, Justin expressed himself through drawing and writing. In Justin's memory, the Express Yourself! scholarship is meant to encourage any young person to experience all that the arts have to offer.
You can make a difference in the life of a local student by partnering with the Carnegie Arts Center. Donations to the scholarship fund are fully tax-deductible and directly support need-based scholarships for students at the Carnegie. Donate here.