Kidnapped: Reunited 23 Years Later...

I tend to spend the odd minute or two surfing the internet. Every now and then, a story jumps out for its horror, its tragedy, its bizarreness or, as in this case seemingly, a happy ending. A young woman who was kidnapped 23 years ago has finally been reunited with her birth mother. It is hard to imagine what sort of feelings one must have learning that you had been kidnapped and have in essence lost 23 years of a potential parallel life. So, when Carlina White / Nejdra Nance says it "felt like a dream", you still wonder whether even in your wildest dreams you would have dreamed that such a day would happen.

The story is one that probably happens a lot more than we care to allow ourselves to acknowledge. The kidnap of children is not a new phenomenon or crime. However, it is rare to here of such happy reunions after such a long period of time.

A 19-day-old Carlina was kidnapped in 1987. The story began with a simple fever and a trip to a Harlem hospital. It ended with Carlina being kidnapped by a woman posing as a nurse and spending the next 23 years living with an abusive "parent". Carlina ended-up pregnant herself at 16 and this is when she started connecting the dots of her own life. A request for a birth certificate could not be fulfilled. The suspicions began to come to the fore as to why that might be. Ultimately, Carlina bailed out of the abusive home in Connecticut and headed to Georgia.

While in Georgia, Carlina met up with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Center filled in a few of the blanks and joined the rest of the dots. A DNA test and a few phone calls put Carlina back in contact with her birth mother, Joy White.

The emotions for Joy White and the rest of Carlina's long lost family most be overwhelming too, particularly when they are not only getting back a lost daughter, sister, cousin, aunt or whatever, but Carlina has since had a daughter herself.

Hopefully, this is a story that continues to have a happy ending.

School Over-Crowding and Birth Control...

How best to deal with surging school populations? A rapidly expanding school population is not something that I am going to have to worry about at Collarenebri Central School. There is undoubtedly some fluctuation in student numbers. But, as I understand it, those fluctuations are up and down 10 - 15 students. Then again, Collarenebri is a town of just 250 people. It goes without saying that New York faces a whole raft of different challenges. One of those is overcrowding in its school system.

It is estimated that by 2015 that the lower Manhattan school area will need to find an additional 1000 spaces for children wanting to attend school. This poses an enormous challenge to officials and city administrators. Do you build new schools or expand existing schools? Or is there some other alternative. According to, the recently appointed Schools Chancellor, Cathie Black perhaps birth control would be a good option.

This tongue in cheek comment has caused considerable offense. The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has had to come to her defense and state, what to me seems obvious, that it was a joke. For offense to be taken it would mean that those taking offense must have believed that she was seriously contemplating birth control as a means of resolving what will become a significant burden on the education budget of the city. Hmmmm....

Nevertheless, the tongue in cheek comment has garnered more press than what the city actually plans to do. So, how are the New York City bureaucracy going to deal with the 1000 extra students that will need to be educated by 2015? Aside from needing extra schools or classroom space at existing schools to accommodate the additional students, there will be a need for additional teachers, won't there? Or is the expectation that class sizes will continue to expand?

Dire Straits, "Money for Nothing", and 'Faggot'...

Hot on the heels of NewSouth Books and the censoring of a Mark Twain classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there is this story out of Canada that seemingly takes 2011 standards of vilification and applies them retroactively to 1985.

The word in question is 'faggot'. There is little doubting that the term is one that is derogatory. It is designed to offend, it is designed to hurt the individual that it is aimed at, and in many places it is now included as language that vilifies a certain group of individuals in the community. In 1985, the word was derogatory but it was used much more freely and perhaps to some degree was considered acceptable.

Interestingly, the song is a Dire Straits classic. In fact, it is a song that has received numerous awards, including a Grammy. Should the fact that the song was released more than 25 years ago  mean that it must be subject to a different standard in terms of the language used? Furthermore, does the fact that the song has been played hundreds of thousands of times throughout the world on radio and television in the most far-flung of locales mean that it is exempt from current applicable standards of the Canadian human rights laws and regulations?

I am not advocating a return to a time when vilifying people was tolerated much more than it is now. I do not use the word and I follow certain protocols when children use it in my classroom in unacceptable ways. However, I am wondering out loud as to whether this kind of revisionism and retroactive application is misplaced.  Nevertheless, this is a case of "sooner or later" as it was only a matter of time before someone lodged a complaint. The word 'faggot' violates the human rights standards that apply in Canada. So, the Broadcast Standards Council, who has authority over these matters, has decided that the word must be censored out of the song.

The line that will have to be edited is ''That little faggot with the earring and the make-up''. Money for Nothing is a song off the 1985 Brothers in Arms album. Mark Knopfler, the lead singer of Dire Straits has commented sparingly on the song. He has said that he wrote it after visiting a hardware store in New York.



I wonder what is next for the censors?

Major League Baseball: Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees...

This is not my usual subject matter, I know!

I am a fan of baseball, and the New York Yankees are the team that I follow. I figure there are fans and then there are "fans"! I am just a fan. My life would not end for example if the Yankees were not to win the World Series every year. My life also would not end if the Yankees were unable to reach a deal with current captain, Derek Jeter.

Baseball salaries are huge. This post is not about whether huge salaries are right or wrong in any moral sense during hard economic times. I fully support the players getting a cut of the profits that the sport generates. It does not matter whether this is up-front salary or performance based bonuses. This post is about whether or not a 36-year-old player with declining production is worth a 6-year contract at an average of USD 25 million per season.

Jeter has just closed out a 10-year USD 189 million contract. There is little argument that he is the heart and soul of the Yankees outfit. There might be some debate as to whether or not he is replaceable. There is sure to be debate as to whether or not he is worth a contract that would see his salary increase in what would be the twilight of an exceptional career as a Yankee.

The Yankees have offered Jeter 3 years and USD 45 million. So, it will be fun to watch just which side is more keen to have Jeter a Yankee. There is obviously plenty of negotiating room between USD 15 million and USD 25 million. The national pastime when games are not being played must be watching the salary negotiations of your team's favourite stars. I am an Alex Rodriguez fan even after the steroids revelations.

I wonder how much space USD 25 million takes up. Even if I saved every cent that I earned in my lifetime I would still not make 25 million. Does it fit in one very large suitcase? I don't even know what I would do with 25 million, there is only so many things that I want to buy. Where there is a will, there is a way. I guess I could work out spending it. Maybe I should have taken sports more seriously when I was younger!

Trans-Jakarta Busway vs. New York Subway: The Flashers...

The Trans-Jakarta Busway as had a few recent "groping" incidents. These were essentially men grabbing and touching women in places women would not be expecting to be touched in a public bus. The police tended to encourage the women not to pursue their allegations any further as they are too difficult to prove. This resulted in some CCTV equipment being installed as a deterrent.

In contrast, the groping went to a much more extreme level in New York recently with the groper actually being a flasher who thought he would rub his penis up against his victim. Interestingly, no CCTV footage here, but some mobile phone video camera footage of the aftermath.

Perhaps, with the technology available to us in 2010 citizen journalism may capture a whole lot more video evidence than we might have had access to in the past, particularly real-time evidence at the scene of the crime.

Brooklyn Law School: The Lingerie Shoot...

Brooklyn Law School rented out their library to a fashion label, Diesel, for a photo shoot. The law school was under the now quite obviously mistaken understanding that the fashion shoot that was going to take place was for Diesel Jeans. The photo shoot was for Diesel, but for their intimates collection and not their jeans line. In fact there is not a pair of jeans in sight in this shoot.

Now, it is not like the idea of sexual activity and law library tables has never been thought of in the past. But, perhaps it is the first time that Brooklyn Law School has seen some of those fantasies played out in photos. I wonder if law library usage has increased or decreased after the photo shoot?

In any event, the Dean of the Law School is making the right sounds. For example, sending around an email suggesting that he is mortified by the happenings and that the law school had been duped by the fashion label. It seems that the fashion label may have breached its agreement with the law school because the law school is adamant that it only gave its permission for the shoot if the images were going to be in good taste. According to the law school, these images are not in good taste.

I will let you be the judge of good taste on this one. It is really a case of to each their own with respect to taste. Good looking and highly intelligent people are always a turn on (so I am told). So, what better way to sell that idea than a steamy lingerie shoot in a law library. I cannot recall that there was a steamy lingerie shoot in my law library while I was at school there. Although, there was always the odd whisper of some late-night briefing sessions taking place (if you are wondering University of Western Sydney).

Yet, when one thinks about it, this is a clever shoot. Who would have thought that legal briefs would have had such a literal meaning.

I am wondering why the photos and the location have got some people so incensed? It is a lingerie shoot, there was a contract in place, and as far as I can tell, nothing was damaged in the process. I think that even Brooklyn Law School would have a hard time trying to prove that this shoot in any way damaged its reputation or status.

I wonder if the University of Indonesia or Pelita Harapan University would allow such a shoot in their law libraries? University of Indonesia might be a more likely candidate because, if I am not mistaken, a former student did end up as a playboy model for the Indonesian version of Playboy Magazine (Joanna Alexandra).

The photos...

Bakwan Jagung in The New York Times...

Bakwan Jagung or Corn Fritters are one of my all time favourite Indonesian snacks. They are versatile and can go by themselves as a "between meals snack" or they can form part of a main meal. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see a write up of Indonesian style corn fritters in The New York Times. It was also good to see a recipe attached to the article, and some quotes from an Indonesian Executive Chef, Djoko Supatmono, at the Satay Junction in Manhattan, New York.

I still eat bakwan jagung here in Australia. My wife is an excellent cook, and it helps that bakwan jagung is one of her favourites as well. My preferred accompaniments are sweet soy sauce with chopped chillies as a dipping sauce or sambal mentah (raw sambal - ground up chillies, garlic, pepper), or sambal Bali (I am not a connoisseur on that front, but my mother-in-law had the sambal Bali down pat). We are spoilt for fresh corn in this part of the world, and fresh corn is always the best way to go when making bakwan jagung.

It should not be too long before the Malaysians start trying to claim that they are the inventors of the Bakwan Jagung and that Indonesia stole it from them. Malaysia seems to want to claim all manner of Indonesian things from textiles to music, so food would seemingly not be such a big stretch. If Malaysia does not step forward to make a claim, then Singapore probably will.

Megan Fox, Panties, Crotch Shot, and Criticism...

It would seem that there has been much criticism of Megan Fox lately.

But some of the more recent is that she is somewhat "slutty". However, Ms. Fox responds with the charge that the reason her detractors think and talk like that is because she is beautiful and smart.

Nevertheless, I will reserve my judgment for some other day. But, I do post these pictures for your viewing pleasure, and so that you may make a determination for yourself about whether the criticisms are warranted or not.

These photos are classed as outtakes from a recent photo shoot she did for the New York Times (NYT) Magazine.

Obama's Indonesian Wedding Ring...

As media stories go, this must mean that there is no news of real importance out there in the world of national or international affairs or the design of Obama's gold wedding band is in fact news of both national and international importance. I will leave you to be the judge on this one.

The photos are courtesy of The Huffington Post.

Just about everyone in the world must know that Obama has a black Kenyan father and a white American mother. Most all must also know that he spent some of his formative years in Indonesia. Apparently he still has fond memories of the country, and still speaks a little of the local lingo, Bahasa Indonesia, or just plain old Indonesian to the rest of us.

The New York Times magazine has a story on the "First Marriage" , and the story identifies that Barack Obama's wedding ring is not only gold, but that it is crafted in a traditional Indonesian style.

I wonder whether this gives more fodder to the birthers who seem to still be fascinated with whether or not Obama is qualified to be president as they dither between whether he was born in Kenya or Hawaii and whether the president ever held Indonesian citizenship or not as a boy (courtesy of his stepfather, Lolo Soetoro).

In any event, the fact that the "most powerful man" in the world is wearing a wedding band using an Indonesian design is a bit of an advertising and marketing scoop for Indonesian jewelry artisans everywhere. Perhaps, there may now be a run on wedding bands with an Indonesian design.

Thanks Obama!

New York City -- Day and Night...

This is pretty cool to see what NYC looks like day and night, at least in terms of population density. It would be fun to see what Jakarta would look like. Anyways, you can find the picture here.

Enjoy.

Standard Hotel -- New York -- Free Sex Shows

There are plenty of reasons to go to New York without ever thinking about visiting the Standard Hotel in New York City. However, if being part of a little bit of voyeurism and exhibitionism is your thing, then perhaps the Standard Hotel is the perfect reason to be heading to NYC.

The Standard Hotel is called "plush" by many however it is the floor-to-ceiling windows that seem to be the biggest attraction for those on the inside and those wanting to have a little peek in from the outside. Why? Well, it seems that the windows have inspired guests and staff alike to partake in the odd free sex show. Free for those looking in from the outside and there is a growing number of those.

The guests pay for the pleasure of staying there. Yet, they also provide a great deal of free pleasure to those stressed out New Yorkers and tourists to the "Big Apple" by stepping out of the shower and toweling down in front of the windows whilst bearing all their wares to the world outside. It is even being reported that some guests have gotten into the act by pleasuring themselves whilst in front of the windows. Supposedly, there are even reports, and perhaps a video, of guest making a porn flick.

The authorities know the score and know that it is going on. An employee with the Parks Department noted that there has been an influx and a significant increase in 'voyeurs' heading to the park to watch the free exhibitions many stories up in the Standard Hotel.

It is unclear whether the Hotel's owners or management condone the activities. However, some staff said that there has been encouragement for the activities as a way of creating buzz for the hotel and perhaps as a means of generating business. Perhaps a food and drinks stall somewhere in the park might be a good way of capitalizing on the increasing numbers of people milling around to catch a glimpse or two of an erotic peep show.

Not all people are happy with the free sex shows. Yet, it would seem that a great majority are happy for them to continue.

I am not sure that the free sex shows are worth a ticket to NYC. But, if someone was willing to pay for me to get there I would be more than happy to write a review of the experience.

Maybe it is time to diversify my skills and get paid for my writing :D

Public Lewdness and Masturbating on the Subway...

It takes all sorts to make this world that we live in. And, sometimes you just have got to wonder what makes some people tick. In this age of modern technology and super fast communication, the chances of you doing something stupid and getting away with it are decreasing all the time.

So it was for Kevin Bishop, the subway masturbator. Bishop was snapped on a mobile phone doing the deed and then reported to the police. The police originally said it was not a matter for them. however, they back-tracked rather quickly from this position and on recognizing Bishop from a couple of posters, arrested him.

Bishop is facing up to 90 days in jail for his chicken choking activities. His excuse, "officer, they just fell out and I was trying to put them back in." Maybe, no one ever told bishop that any more than three shakes and it is a wank. I have to say, I have caught a lot of trains over the years and I cannot recall even one time where the family jewels and tackle just fell out by themselves, and then having a hard time (pun intended) in trying to restore some order by getting them back inside my strides.

Nope, definitely not looking good for Mr. Bishop. Another WTF were you thinking moment.

Viral Videos -- Marketing Tools of the Future...

Here are two prime examples of what might be possible. Both of these videos relate to Jill and Keith. The first is their marriage and has had some 17 million hits on YouTube. The second is their divorce and it has already had some 1 million hits, also on YouTube.

The wedding first...



Now the divorce...



The idea of marketing using a viral video, providing you could get the format right and make a video that would indeed go viral, then this would be a good way of getting your product out. Viral videos could be used for all manner of things other than just selling something. For example, a viral video could be used as part of a funding campaign for, say, Amnesty International. Or it could be used to promote awareness of a particular disease like breast cancer.

The possibilities are endless. But, these two videos have been fun to watch.

A Dog's Life -- Five Legs

This is a great story with a reasonably happy ending. I have never been a big fan of freak shows or side show alley at the local fair or circus. There was always something that bothered me about paying money to view someone or something who was a little different from me; a special attribute that I did not possess.

About six weeks ago this cute as a puppy, puppy was born. It was born with a real interesting distinguishing feature, a fifth leg. The owner of the dog was contacted by John Strong, a Coney Island, New York, Side Show owner. Strong's claim to fame is a side show that features disfigured animals. The owner of the dog is supposed to have agreed to sell the puppy for USD 3000 to Strong, and Strong claims that he paid a USD 1000 deposit to secure the dog. Fortunately, that deposit has been repaid and the puppy has been sold to someone else for USD 4000.

The plan is to get the extra leg, on the chihuahua-terrier cross puppy, removed. The surgery is listed for the coming week and is expected to cost a further USD 2000. However, once the extra leg is removed vets are expecting that the little one, now named Lilly, will make a full recovery and lead a normal dog's life. Lilly is expected to live out her days somewhere in North Carolina.

I went to university in North Carolina, UNC-Chapel Hill. So, this is a story from my third home.

All's well that ends well.

The Buddha Bar -- Jakarta

The Buddha Bar is one that I have heard of and have never had the cause or the inclination to go there. I have friends and colleagues who have trundled by and have given it mixed reviews. By consensus it seems that it caters to the upper end of the market and I am a strictly down town kind of fella. So, the Buddha Bar and me are not a match made in heaven.

However, this is not a post about my watering hole preferences,but rather a musing about what Buddha might think about a group of Buddhists students closing the place down because it allegedly insults their religious sensitivities.

The Jakarta Post is reporting that the Indonesian Buddhists Student Association (Aliansi Mahasiswa Buddhis / AMB) has closed down the Buddha Bar and management has seemingly agreed to this. This does not seem to be a particularly enlightened move on the part of the AMB.

The Buddha Bar is part of a chain of bars owned and operated by George V Hotels and Resorts which is based in France. The groups has Buddha Bars in a number of other locations including London, New York, Cairo, and Beirut, to name but a few.

According to Kompas, the group has recommended that the Tourist Agency of the Government and the Governor become pro-active in the stripping of the groups business license to operate in Jakarta. Presumably, this request should be directed further up the chain so as to ensure that any requisite business licenses are stripped for the whole of Indonesia and not just Jakarta.

It seems that the primary concern of the AMB is that the association of Buddha to a bar is inappropriate, particularly as the Buddha Bar is a place that serves alcohol and allows people to get drunk. I am guessing that the point is that Buddha neither drank alcohol nor got drunk.

The secondary concern relates to the fact that the Buddha Bar is populated with Buddhist symbols and artifacts (I would be guessing that most are cheap imitations as opposed to the real thing - but as I said I have not been to the place and I am not sure that I would know the difference anyway).

It also appears, according to a spokesperson for the AMB, that before the word Buddha can be used in any context there must be written approval from the Directorate General of Buddhist Affairs at the Department of Religion.

The last time I was in a music store checking out a couple of the latest CDs, I noticed that there are a series of music CDs related to the Bar and simply called Buddha Bar I, Buddha Bar II, Buddha Bar III, and I think I saw a Buddha Bar IV as well. I guess once the students successfully close down the Buddha Bar proper then they can turn their collective attention to blockading music stores and demand that the CDs be withdrawn from sale.

Interestingly, the Jakarta Post is reporting that the management of the Buddha Bar has also filed a request for a name change. It is not often that you see Indonesians demand changes that are likely to see them out of a job.

The simple reality here is that the Buddha Bar is part of a chain, a franchise if you will, that will lose its appeal should it be renamed George V Bar (although you might get a bit more patronage from some English folks looking to down a warm pint or two). More to the point the staff that work there had no qualms about joining the establishment in the first place. Because if they did then they should have stuck to their principles at that point in time and refused to take up employment until such time as the owners caved into the yet to be employed employees demands for a name change.

This is at best a case of opportunism by the staff and at worst a misrepresentation in the media of the employee's actual position.

This is clearly a case of students having too much time on their hands and nothing better to do. Let's face it there is a world of poverty and illness out there that needs the idealism of youth much more than the shutting down of a poorly named bar that is providing an income to Indonesians and allowing them to feed themselves and their families.

My understanding of Buddha and Buddhist teachings is that they teach tolerance and understanding. I am guessing Buddha is probably sitting under a tree somewhere taking a break from his enlightened meditations and thinking to himself, chill out, it's just a bar.

My thanks to Lawblogger (one of my readers - I cannot link to a blog because I do not know who he is and whether he even has a blog) for pointing me in this direction.

A Victory for Common Sense?

A victory for common sense is a rare thing in these days of heightened terror and loathing of all things. However, when one does come along it is worth writing about and discussing. Raed Jarrar has just one a sizable payout from two US transportation officials and JetBlue Airways for being forced to cover-up a T-shirt that had Arabic script printed on it. The case stems from a 2006 flight on JetBlue airways from JFK Airport in New York to Oakland in California.

The Arabic script on the offending T-Shirt said something along the lines of "we will not be silent". I am guessing that the majority of people flying on that day and on that flight probably could not read Arabic and had no idea what the t-shirt said. Nevertheless, in their infinite wisdom the transportation officials and the airline required Jarrar to cover up his t-shirt before allowing him to fly.

Presumably, the necessity to cover up the writing was so as not to scare other passengers. The stupidity here was that the officials and JetBlue suggested to Jarrar that wearing a t-shirt with an Arabic script was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, 'I am a robber'". Stupid is as stupid does! I wonder if the t-shirt had been in French or Russian or Cambodian or Vietnamese or even Indonesian would there have been a need to cover it up? My guess is, No.

Adding insult to injury Jarrar was moved from a seat at the front of the plane to a seat at the back. I guess out of sight out of mind.

It seems that people never learn the error of their ways. This kind of profiling continues through to 2009. On 1 January 2009 a family of Muslims was removed from a flight as a security threat because 2 members of a party of 9 were discussing how safe it was to be seated next to the engines. This caught the interest of other passengers who reported the discussion and the whole family was removed from the AirTran flight. Eventually, they were cleared of any wrongdoing but were still not allowed to board the flight and were not permitted to fly with the airline. For more details check out Spruiked: Djak Style and here.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Ali Alatas (1932 - 2008)

It is sad news that Ali Alatas had passed. He was Indonesia's diplomatic face to the world during some of the hardest of times. He was always not only diplomatic but graceful whilst on the world stage through his time as not only Indonesia's longest serving Foreign Minister, but also prior to that as Indonesia's point man at the United Nations in both Geneva and New York from 1976.

In many ways the Alatas career is shaped by the events of East Timor and the eventual split of the former Portuguese colony from the Republic of Indonesia. Nevertheless, it would be unfair to cast his legacy as merely one connected no matter how intimately to the events of the East Timor and Indonesia relationship.

Since his departure as the top diplomat in 1999 he went onto play a significant role in the "resolution" of the Aceh issue and most recently as Ambassador at large and Head of the Supreme Advisory Council.

Alatas (photo Afriadi Hikmal, Jakarta Globe) leaves behind a wife and three children.

The man will be sorely missed not only by his family but by many Indonesians who have benefited from his vast knowledge, not only of diplomacy but of world affairs.

Alatas had a heart attack and died Thursday morning in Singapore.

May he rest in peace!

Fashionable Veeps -- The Palin Cost

Choosing a Vice Presidential candidate does not come cheap when you are clothing a family of five kids and getting them looking all dapper to hit the campaign trail. The Republican National Committee has found this out as it has spent more than USD 150,000 since late August. Now, this is funny in that truly perverse kind of a way. The Republican ticket has been claiming how in touch it is with the problems facing America and ordinary citizens.

The problem as I would see it is that there are not many citizens earning that sort of money that they can be dropping more than 150K on accessorizing. Some of the bills that have been filed in public financial expenditure statements include an almost 50K shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue, a more than 75K bill from Neiman Marcus, and almost 5K in hair and make-up expenses.

This has caught the interest of campaign finance experts who have been quick to suggest that personal use items such as clothes and make-up are generally prohibited. Simply, campaign funds are not and cannot be used for personal items.

The RNC's initial response was to blow the whole thing off as politicking. However, the most recent response of the RNC has been to suggest that all of the goods that have been bought for the Palin's are going to be donated to charity after the campaign. In this case it seems that the Salvation Army store could be in for a windfall. It is not often you pick up Saks and Neiman goodies at bargain basement prices.

There is little doubt that the Democrats should get some good yards out of this one as the Democrat financial expenditure statements do not include any similar spending.

At least now the people, the citizens, those that are going to be casting ballots know how much it has cost to keep the Palins looking good!

Barack Osama

No, this is not a typo but rather how Barack Obama's name appears on absentee ballots being sent to voters in Rensselaer County in upstate New York. In that funny in a perverse kind of a way, the Osama that most people would know would be one Osama bin Laden.

It seems that this is just that, a typo. It does not appear that this was someone's idea of a practical joke.

According to the people who should know about these things, the elections office commissioners, Edward McDonagh and Larry Bugbee, a Democrat and a Republican, respectively, had the following to say:

"It's human error, it's very unfortunate, it's an embarrassment to our office, obviously," McDonough said in a later phone interview. "We wish we could turn back the clock, but we can't."

The remaining ballots have been shredded. However, those that have already filled in the ballots will have them counted even though there is no Barack Osama running for President. I guess this means that everyone has agreed that Barack Osama is in fact Barack Obama.

It is indeed an interesting presidential election in the good ol' US of A.

New York City and Eid

Multiculturalism and racism or bigotry go hand-in-hand in the sense that many oversimplify these terms to be opposite sides of the same coin. This is to say, if you do not support multiculturalism or a more plural society then you are racist or a bigot and conversely if you have racist or bigoted tendencies you cannot support multiculturalism. Sometimes I wonder whether the equation is quite as simple as that.

Nevertheless, the Big Apple or perhaps the Big Melting Pot that is New York City is soon to vote on whether two Muslim holidays are to be declared school holidays for all. The two holidays are Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha which celebrate the end of the fasting month and the Haj pilgrimage month respectively. The vote is to take place on 16 October 2008.

This is something that has been on the agenda since 2005 and it seems that the supporters of the vote have finally mustered the numbers to take the issue to committee and then get it through to a full council vote.

The measure was initiated by a Muslim councilor from Harlem, Robert Jackson. However, it is claimed that the measure has broad support within the community and also on the council and this support is from non-Muslims as well. Broad-based support is no guarantee that it will get up when it comes to a vote.

I wonder though whether this sets a precedent that every religion should be able to lobby for its special days to be legislatively declared holidays and then have them so declared. I am happy for governments to declare as many religious holidays that they want. Simply, the more they declare the less number of days I have to work while still getting paid.

The population of NYC is approximately 7 million and of these 1 million are Muslims.