Is Obama Eligible to be President of the United States of America?

Yes, he is!

Nevertheless, it would seem that a group of "Birthers" will not be satisfied until such time as the president provides an original birth certificate. Yet, considering the manner in which birthers have gone about their task to date, an original birth certificate is unlikely to close off their beliefs. The cold, hard reality for birthers is that the State of Hawaii, the State where Barack Hussein Obama II was born, has already released enough data in its public records to put this to bed.

To be honest a certificate of live birth and the corresponding birth notices, both of which are contemporary to the event, should be more than enough. It is a truly bizarre claim that Obama is in essence a "Manchurian Candidate" that has been groomed since birth for this task of destroying the US from within as her president.

Interestingly, the Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, wanted to assist in putting this matter to bed. However, the State's Attorney General, David Louie, has instructed the Governor that the Governor is barred by law from releasing the private birth certificates of individuals without their consent. Simply, the only person who can consent to the release of the Obama birth certificate is Barack Obama  himself. So, if Obama remains true to past form, it would seem unlikely that a birth certificate will be forthcoming. And, to be honest it is not necessary.

Hawaii has confirmed that the original documents have been cited and confirmed and that information is contained in the State's vital records. So, to all intents and purposes, Hawaii is satisfied that Barack Hussein Obama II was born at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu on 4 August 1961.

Then again, Hawaii's failure to release the originals is obviously, as the birthers will contend, all part of the grand conspiracy. After all, Obama was born in Kenya, is an Indonesian citizen and a practicing Muslim, right?

Ho hum...

Islamic Defenders Front -- Giving Islam a Bad Name...

Now, I am not usually one for the conspiracy theories. However, I often wonder how an organisation like the Front Pembela Islam or the Islamic Defenders Front can be so naive with the manner that they go about promoting their brand of radical violent Islam gives rise to serious questions about who they act for. It sometimes reaches a point where one has to wonder whether there is a conspiracy at play here. One where particular interests are using the highly gullible and easily influenced in order to give Islam a bad name. And, let's face it the FPI gives Islam a bad name.

The FPI and their most recent cause saw them storming a hotel in Depok, West Java, to disband a transsexual lingerie contest. Unfortunately, the FPI had been had. It was not a lingerie contest but rather a seminar on human rights. A seminar that in fact was teaching Indonesia transsexual and transgender individuals about their human rights. There was not a lingerie-clad transsexual in sight (probably much to the disappointment of the FPI thugs in attendance).

The seminar itself was supported by the Indonesian National Commission for Human Rights and had the requisite approval to proceed. This approval was granted by the Indonesian police force among others. Unfortunately, it seems no one bothered to get the approval of the local chapter of the FPI. The failure to get the FPI's approval is seemingly a sin against Allah and undoubtedly against Allah's Prophet, Muhammad.

The perversely funny thing here is that by raiding the seminar the FPI has given the Indonesian transsexual and transgender community a profile it might not have had, particularly if they had been left alone to go about their business of attending a seminar on human rights. So, one has to wonder about the agenda of the FPI here. If the FPI is really all about ridding Indonesia  of such "perversion" then why bother helping promote acknowledgement, and perhaps acceptance, of the fact that there are different parts to the broader Indonesian community. In my mind, it is the FPI that is the perversion and needs to be shut down and not my brothers and sisters in the transsexual and transgender community that are pursuing their right to learn about their human rights in an approved forum.

Alternatively, the FPI could show that they have learned a little but about tolerance and accepting difference (my guess is that the FPI will never come to appreciate difference) then they can continue to exist. However, if their continued course is one of violence and intolerance then they must be punished to the full extent of the law and shut down. Any failure to punish the FPI and to shut them down which allows them to continually and unashamedly break the law and violate other individuals human rights begs the question as to why the police and the Indonesian government tolerate them. One would seemingly have to ask: "does the government and do the police approve of the FPI actions?" Should silence and failure to act be construed as support for the FPI agenda?

Ultimately, respect is a two-way street. If you want to be respected then you must respect others. In very simple terms, respect is earned. FPI has not earned respect and is undeserving of respect because of its repeated failures to respect others.

Mahatir, 9/11, and Jews...

There is one thing you can always count on from the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, controversy. Whether what he says is true or not seems to be irrelevant. But, on some issues the man is downright creative in the manner he constructs his conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, probably more disturbing is the suggestion that the targeting and killing of Jews has failed to solve the "Jewish problem" at least as he sees it. I wonder if I am reading too much into the implied 'if you are going to do it, then do it right' sentiment that he appears to be suggesting.

If the quotes attributed to him are correct then he paints a pretty disturbing picture of what goes on in his head. It would seem that the only difference between him and Ahmadinejad (who is supposedly of Jewish ancestry) is that Mahatir does not deny that a massacre (probably a little less severe than a using the terms genocide or holocaust to describe the 'Final Solution' envisaged by the Nazis) took place during the Second World War.

The conspiracy theory that if the US can put together a film like Avatar, then they are more than capable of perpetrating the 9/11 attacks and blaming them on Muslims as an excuse to wage war on Muslims. The idea that the 9/11 attacks were not all that they seem, and that the US may have been involved in setting up the attacks on themselves is not a new one. Let's face it, even Rosie O'Donnell is on the record saying that the 9/11 attacks were staged and that the World Trade Centers were brought down with strategically placed bombs.

However, it is his comments about Jews that are most disturbing. Mahatir seems to think that the world's problems are caused by Jews and some kind of Jewish lobby. This is not new either as a conspiracy theory. Nevertheless, what is a little disturbing is that he seems to think that confining the Jews to ghettos and then periodically massacring them is not necessarily a bad idea, but rather it has not been done properly as the Jews have always managed to rise up again and thrive once again.

Mahatir is quoted as saying, "even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world."

Then again, one needs to take whatever Mahatir says with a grain of salt, the man is renowned for his anti-US and anti-Semitic stances. I guess he is certainly not putting his name forward as a man of peace and reconciliation.

Swine Flu, Tourists, Face Masks, and Indonesia

The Minister of Health (and Conspiracy Theories and Other Crazy Ideas) has decided that all tourists from swine flu affected countries must where face masks for the first three days after their arrival in Indonesia. It seems that the fact that 50% of the eight cases of swine flu or the A(H1N1) virus confirmed in Indonesia has tipped the scales in favour of all foreigners from all swine flu affected countries being required to don the face masks. This is presumably even the case if the incoming tourist successfully negotiates the thermal scanner (photo).

According to the Minister, this is a precautionary measure in order to prevent human-to-human transmission. Yep, I can see it now, the tourists from swine flu affected countries in the late night entertainment areas of Legian and Kuta painting the town red in their designer face masks. The question though is really one of enforcement. And, as the Minister of Conspiracy Theories points out, it is going to be a little hard to enforce the requirement for people wanting to go swimming, or perhaps eating, or drinking, or myriad of other pursuits that would undoubtedly be hampered by the mask.

The government recognizes that if it were to jump up and down in order to show that it was serious about this, then there could be a spanner thrown into the works of the slow but sure recovery of the tourism industry in places like Bali. Hence, there is no penalty if people choose not to wear the mask after they are given it at the airport.

This begs the question, "Why bother?"

This is especially so when the new "policy" is still unfunded and the Department of Health is still trying to ascertain where the funds are coming from to buy the masks that are going to be handed out for free. The true Indonesian entrepreneurial spirit would have been to tag an extra USD 5 on each visa on arrival to cover the cost of the mask. Let's face it, it is still cheaper to pay the fiver than it is to stand on principle and turn around and board the next flight back to wherever it is that you came from.

This brilliant policy initiative came out of a meeting chaired by the Coordinating Minister of His Own Family's Welfare (oops Peoples' Welfare), Aburizal Bakrie, who said the funds would be made available for the purchase of the masks.

This also begs a question, "Aren't there more important matters that require immediate funding?" It also possibly begs a second question, "When does the Minister think that his family companies and the government will get around to finalizing the Lapindo matter, particularly the outstanding payments to those affected by that disaster?"

Funnily enough, the Health Minister has indicated that she is particularly concerned by the huge numbers of Australian tourists that invade Bali annually. I noted in my previous post on swine flu that it was a perfect scenario for the doomsdayers, conspiracy theorists, and Commission I of the DPR to ratchet up the idea that swine flu was another attempt by foreigners to covertly usurp Indonesian sovereignty through the spread of disease.

This really is a case for the "Why Bother?" files. It is such a waste of money, particularly when the money can be better spent elsewhere.

Back in the Swing -- Another Schapelle Corby Update...

It has been a week of Schapelle Corby (photo courtesy of Bintoro S. Lukman) news. It is probably important for her and her family to keep her name in the news and regularly ensuring that the news is in your face. This strategy has inherent risks as the saturation could surely backfire in that there is still plenty of people who think she is guilty countering an equally large number that think she is innocent.

Personally, I think that she is guilty. The only conspiracy theory that I have entertained and continue to feel has some legs is that it was probably her half-brother who was the smuggler. I do not believe that the failure to fingerprint would prove anything further than the prosecution making an argument that she was smart enough to wipe down the bag before putting it in the boogie board bag. The idea that it was baggage handlers was just never proved.

Should she have been sentenced to 20 years in prison? That is the Indonesian law. It is high time Australians realized that you are not subject to Australian laws when you travel to foreign locales. Simply, if you get caught with drugs in Indonesia you are going to do time, this is particularly so for commercial quantities. Narcotics trafficking are likely to see you executed.

There was an interesting article in today's Sunday Telegraph making the case that it was time for Corby to be released and sent home. The underlying premise being that she would never have had to do 20 years for the same crime in Australia and that he current medical situation warrants it. The idea being that it is better for her to be sent home before she does harm to herself.

I touched on this idea in an earlier post. My take is that prison is not a holiday farm it is supposed to be tough and you are supposed to suffer from the consequences of losing your liberty and freedom to come and go as you please. This undoubtedly depresses people. In Australian prisons these individuals would generally get the necessary medical treatment. In an Indonesian prison Corby has been given the necessary medicines and been left to her own devices, this unfortunately includes not taking her medicines as prescribed.

If Corby does harm herself I am not sure that this is going to be something that harms the broader Indonesian / Australian relationship. It might cause some tension but whether it would be enough to unsettle relations long-term does not seem likely. There are probably bigger challenges to the Indonesian / Australian relationship in the form of Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd (this probably deserves a post of its own -- but is a throw away line for now).

What does the future hold for Corby. The only real legal avenue in Indonesia sans any new evidence is an appeal for clemency from the president. This would require Corby to admit guilt. This is something she has not been prepared to do to date. This is a risky strategy too, as there is no guarantee that an admission of guilt will result in automatic clemency. And, given Indonesia's stance on drugs and drug smuggling it is unlikely that an admission of guilt is likely to sway the president. In any event, in an election cycle such as now and assuming there is no run-off for the presidency, it seems unlikely that any clemency appeal will be entertained until much later in the year.

The only other option on the horizon is a prisoner exchange deal. This deal would allow Australian prisoners sentenced to terms of imprisonment in Indonesia to serve out their time in an Australian prison. Nevertheless, the horizon in this instance is still some way off by the Australian governments admission. Despite news reports to suggest that progress is being made fails to recognize that the deal is far from done.

This is evidenced in a recent statement by the Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, that the government would be willing to support a clemency request if Corby was to make one. Reading between the lines here would suggest that waiting for a prisoner exchange deal to be put into place is further away than a possible clemency grant.

The saga continues.

Antasari Azhar and Murder

What follows is a revised comment from this post on another topic where the question of Antasari Azhar (picture courtesy of Viva News) came up.

I have written elsewhere that where there is smoke there is most likely fire. I am going to go out on a limb and state that I am leaning towards there being fire in the Antasari case.

There are many commentators, Indonesian and non-Indonesian, who are suggesting that this is revenge and a frame-up.

In line with the smoke and fire analogy, the suggestion that this is a frame-up indicates a conspiracy of the highest order that could not conceivably be maintained and would unravel at the earliest opportunity. And, the court of public opinion might be split on guilt and the word on the street is not 100% one way or the other, but there are also plenty of people thinking that this is not the frame-up some are claiming it to be.

This is high profile and as such if it is a stitch-up as many claim, then there are so many others that could have been stitched-up other than Antasari.

Simply, there seems no point in bringing down Antasari if he is not involved.

Antasari has been caught out, at least with his pecker out of his pants and in the hands of an "educated" golf caddy who is being portrayed in the media as an excellent handler of sticks, or is that drivers, for the right fee. I cast no aspersions on the girl, I do not know her. Yet, I do not see any more happy endings on this one.

Let's face it, my reading of the news reports to date suggest, the girl is alleged to have panicked and called the police which really got the ball(s) rolling, so to speak. I would love to get a hold of her mobile phones and download the address book, they would certainly seem to be the veritable repository of contacts of the who's who of the Indonesian elite (and maybe the odd compromising photo or two), an electronic black book if you will.

The beauty of Indonesia is that it has a really short memory and the attention span is equally short. This is not something unique to Indonesia, but probably is relevant in this case. There were serious questions raised about the suitability of Antasari prior to his original appointment to the KPK. In fact, there were some interesting allegations raised about his extra-curricular activities. He was never convicted of anything and as such the allegations remain just that, allegations.

Nevertheless, this should be reasonable ammunition for the "I told you so" crowd that will inevitably appear.

However, I am far from convinced Antasari has been set up. The most likely scenario with what is available in the public domain is that Antasari was aware of corruption in a state-owned enterprise, and he probably became aware of this through Nasrudin. However, as horny old men are prone to do, Antasari was to busy getting his post-round workout with the caddy and forgot to move forward on the corruption documents and investigation. Nasrudin threatened to expose Antasari and then the rest you can probably work out for yourself.

Now all that said, I am all for due process and the Police and the Office of the Public Prosecutor still have to make their case in a court of law. If they do and Antasari is found guilty and convicted, so be it. If he is cleared of any involvement then so be it. Antasari can defend himself against the charges, through his legal team.

It is going to be interesting and fun to watch this one unfold.

Anwar Ibrahim -- Arrested

The allegations are clear but the charges are not, at least according to Anwar's lawyer. Sankara Nair, Anwar's lawyer witnessed the arrest , and has stated that the police did not indicate what Anwar (pictured) was being charged with. Anwar was arrested as he arrived at home and was immediately taken to Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.

The arrest sparked an SMS frenzy with all members of the Keadilan Party and the members of the opposition coalition receiving SMS messages to gather outside the police headquarters and rally for Anwar's release.

It is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. The "victim" or the person making the claims here is Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a volunteer in Anwar's office. Saiful is 23 years old. It might be the cynic in me, but after the allegations were made several photos emerged showing Saiful posing all smiles at the Deputy Prime Ministers office. This in and of itself has no real significance except how does a 23-year-old with no real reason to be meeting with the Deputy PM get access to the DPM office? More to the point, why is a volunteer from Anwar's office meeting with the DPM?

For old conspiracy theorists like myself there is something to be made of all these coincidences.

Having been charged and convicted for sodomy before it seems that these would be the easiest allegations to be made. Yet, the previous charges were ultimately thrown out or overturned by Malaysia's highest court. This really is shaping up as a he said, he said show. Unless, young Saiful has some incriminating evidence then I am not sure where this goes. I am not an expert on Malaysian law so I cannot authoritatively say.

It must be noted that some Ministers have been suggesting that there is evidence and that Anwar will need to provide a reference DNA sample. I am not sure why he would need to do that. I would have thought that last time around the police would have required Anwar to submit DNA and his sample would be in the system. But if there is DNA evidence, I wonder whether it is of a similar kind that captivated US audiences during the Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinsky caper and the President's semen stain on the good ol' blue dress.

Sodomy charges if proven see the perpetrator liable for a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years.

The question though is, are these trumped up charges that are aimed at subverting the opposition movement for democratic change and restoring some of the authoritarian practices of the past?

I will be watching as this will be quite a story for sure.

Avian Influenza or H5N1

Fortunately, this nasty little virus has not become the pandemic that everyone supposedly in the know thought that it might! However, this is not the end of the story but merely the beginning as the potential remains and questions remain as to whether Indonesia and others have been accurately reporting avian influenza deaths. Instead of calling this thing its scientific name or the somewhat pompous avian influenza, I am just going to call it bird flu!

History has seen an earlier form of bird flu that was either called chicken flu or the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu was thought to have originated in the battlefields of the First World War and migrated from chickens to a mutant strain into humans. The number crunchers are whacking out the scary statistics that if this thing was to take off then it could conceivably kill up to 3 billion people. Now, there is one way to ensure population control and turn back the effects of global warming!

This brings us to Indonesia's claim of some kind of intellectual property rights over the bird flu virus and that if anyone wants samples of the virus then they must pay by the Indonesian Health Minister. This seems to say to her fellow citizens that we do not care whether you live or die but we are going to ensure that we make a few dollars at your expense.

She then trots out the argument of the big bad west and the fact that they are trying to rape and pillage Indonesia's intellectual property and profit from it! If Indonesia has the ability to develop medicines and drugs to treat bird flu then it should do it and profit from it if it can. However, the reality would seem to suggest that Indonesia does not think that it can do this and is therefore now seeking to sell samples.

It is at this point the story takes a truly bizarre and perhaps disturbing turn. The Health Minister publishes a book and by a number of accounts Health Department funds were thrown at the task. The truly bizarre and disturbing part is not so much the claim that WHO and large pharmaceutical companies are conspiring to defraud developing countries of their rights but the idea that the west is desperately seeking samples of Indonesian bird flu in order to develop a biological weapon that might be used against Indonesia in the future...

Stupid, stupid, stupid conspiracy theory with absolutely no grounds based in even the slightest realities of current geo-political relationships! These kind of xenophobic conspiracy theories do nothing but stoke the fires of hatred. These are fires of hatred that Indonesians, not just foreigners, should fear and loathe. These things also only serve to perpetuate the hatred and stereotypes that some people hold of others.

The fact that the Indonesian government has remained relatively silent on this book is of some concern as the question that arises is, "is this silence in fact an endorsement of the views of the Health Minister?" To be fair the book was withdrawn temporarily and many believed much of the xenophobic vitriol and the idea that bird flu is the work of God would be removed (redacted) from this tome. The idea that Allah gave Indonesia the deadliest strain of bird flu to date in order that Indonesia could make money off of it is as ludicrous as it is offensive to those that have already died from infection with the virus. However, it allegedly reappeared pretty much in tact and with some words of encouragement from the President.

I must be honest and admit that I have not bought the book and do not intend to (if someone wants to give me copy then they can). I have been following this primarily in the news and my comments here are interpretations of what I have read. I, therefore, encourage you to read them in that context.

As as side note perhaps it is worth noting that conspiracy theories abound in the supposed dark world of pharmaceutical development where men and women in suits sit in high-rise office buildings developing sinister plans to keep the world sick in order to maximize profits.

Similar conspiracy theory type arguments have been trotted out with regard to HIV/AIDS. The idea that pharmaceuticals stand to make more money out of treatment than they ever would out of cure. Simply, the conspiracy theory goes that allowing people to remain sick is more profitable in the long term than being able to cure them. It is my belief that the Indonesian Health Minister has done nothing than adopt this view and change the virus to H5N1.

Sinful Valentine's Day

This is a verbatim copy of a comment I posted to Indonesia Matters and relates to a posting on that site regarding attempts to erase Valentine's Day from the social calendar because it is a day of sin. The comments also relate to some of the comments of other commentators to the post (so go read the original post for yourself)...

I guess this is why the term "globalization" was coined! Rapidly developing technology and ease of communication means that cultural influences other than our own can permeate the whole world -- some good, some bad but that's the way it goes.

The only way to stop it is to prevent people from communicating with each other, prevent travel to different local regions and foreign locales, and to generally restrict the basic rights of citizens -- if this were to happen then we might have a real conspiracy on our hands!

But that said it is a creative approach to whip out an old law or create new laws that label certain cultural traditions like Valentine's Day a sin and then let the very heavy hand of the law deal with it! It is not the right approach but you do what you do!

Jewish conspiracies and Jews ruling the world through the domination of the mass media and the monopolization of capital and any other theory out there all stem from that same source that the Jews are responsible for the death of Christ and are to be punished for it. Let's not forget that the crucifiction of Christ was possibly a political power play and that Christ was a Jew and the distinction between Christianity and Judaism may have really been a result of seeking out political advantge in tumultuous times (these differences have supposedly become more pronounced over time)...a reading of the Gospels will enlighten the reader to where the blame game originated.

Yet, when it is all said and done this absolute domination of world affairs has not allowed the Jews to remove the nonsense being spouted by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about wiping Israel of the face of the map from public discourse -- so much for world media domination! To be brutally honest I do not see the extermination of the Jews bringing about any positive changes in my life, it has been tried before although Ahmadinejad would have us believe that the Holocaust is a fiction and that it never occurred. But obviously listening to the man it is something that he desires to see happen now -- a world leader advocating the extermination of a group of people from the earth -- it is time we as a global community woke up and smelled the coffee, we have a serious problem here.

The extermination of groups of people removes from the very fabric of our communities those things that make us what we are. There is no glory or honor in genocide and the Holocaust is a history lesson that as human beings we must not be allowed to forget. even more importantly it is something we must not allow ourselves to repeat!

Killing people for their religious beliefs is just plain morally wrong and I do not think my moral compass is broken on this point!

However, I do see my life taking a significant turn for the worst if Ahmadinejad was to rule my world -- definitely no heaven there!

It reminds me of an oft used argument from the Indonesian context where every time there was rumblings and under-currents of dissatisfaction with the economy the Soeharto Government trotted out the race card that it was Indonesian Chinese almost total domination of the local markets that was the root cause of all this economic evil -- rubbish!

But the real question here is that if I give my wife a box of chocolates and flowers on any other day besides 14 February have I committed a sin in Bukittinggi or some other part of Sumatra?
I would have thought there are more pressing issues in those parts of Indonesia than the sinful nature of globalization and additions to Indonesia's diverse cultural traditions.

A little bit more love and tolerance in the world from all sides would serve us much better than some of the vitriol being espoused here. The issue here is the value of foreign cultural traditions and the manner they are incorporated into local cultural traditions and not one of the big Zionist conspiracy to rule the world -- the Jewish conspiracy is an alternate reality that just does not stand up to scrutiny.

Whatever happened to that base Indonesian ideological concept of unity in diversity?

I do not expect to convert any diehards to my cause of tolerance but as Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi said "You must be the change you want to see in the world"!

So, on that note thanks for reading this far :)

National Treasure - Book of Secrets

Who is not intrigued by a little conspiracy theory? Besides it is always nice that the good guys win in the end and it is even better that they always find the treasure and get the girls! This is what happens in National Treasure - Book of Secrets...Yet, it seems to be a premise for a franchise that is going to work, and perhaps work even better than its predecessor in Indiana Jones.

The beauty of this film is that it really is an action film that the whole family can enjoy. It is intellectually stimulating from the perspective of plot and will undoubtedly intrigue anyone ever dreaming about a lost city of gold or wanting to improve their abstract historical knowledge for their next 'trivial pursuit' competition with their friends or down the pub on a Friday night. For the kiddies it is action non-stop without the blood, gratuitous violence, and swearing.

The cynics among us might suggest the whole movie (the second in what is destined to be a series) is designed to set up the sequel. The mysterious page 47 seems destined to become the plot for the next installment, but what is on page 47? This is the unanswered question although we do know it to be life-altering. Life altering here is in fact taking on a life of its own in the blogosphere with many people suggesting the next big treasure hunt is going to be the search for the fountain of youth or life (done and re-done in numerous movies including one of the Tomb Raiders films starring Angelina Jolie, which is a good connection seeing her real life father plays the father to Nicholas Cage's character in National Treasure--coincidence or something more?).

Life altering in this movie was unscripted but designed to draw interest form movie goers. It has worked and worked so well that it is likely to spur an industry of its own, at least until there is a sequel come out to quell the suspicions. But with suggestions being that the franchise is to go more international then another mythical long lost treasure is the most likely choice, and possibly something from the age of antiquity. As one pundit stated page 47 seemed to be a good number of pages before the information that Ben Gates was looking for relating to Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. This, as the logic goes, rules out some of the more modern treasure stories associated with looted treasures from the world wars.

With the rape and pillage of great civilizations over the many thousands of years of human existence means that the possibilities for the next big treasure hunt for the Gates family are endless.

The search for the mysterious cities of gold, and there are seven of them, has been something that has peaked the interest in many an explorer and treasure hunter, seeing many of them die in the cause or become disillusioned by it. Or the contemplation of support by Queen Victoria for the Confederate cause. Or the fact that there are three Statues of Liberty. These are all interesting tid-bits of historical trivia.

But for me the more interesting facts relate to the idea that there is a book that passes from one president to the next that in essence contains all the nitty gritty details of all the unsolved mysteries that conspiracy buffs live on such as the JFK assassination and the Watergate scandal and the missing Nixon tapes. Maybe its me, or maybe I am more of a conspiracy buff than I imagine...did anyone else find it interesting that there are supposedly 18 pages missing from the JWB diary and there are also 18 minutes (and a little bit) missing from the Nixon tapes? I should add though that there is a suggestion that further analysis by the FBI has stated that there are maybe as many as 52 pages missing from the diary...

All in all the movie is good entertainment and anyone with an interest in historical fact will need to do a little research of their own to separate the fact from the fiction. It is not the nest movie I have ever seen but it is satisfying in the manner in which it sets up the sequel and leaves you wondering and anticipating the next installment and this is what a franchise film must do!

If you have an interest in history, particularly US history, and a thirst for trivia, then this is a movie you must see!

The Book of Secrets appears to have many more secrets to reveal!