This video cracked me up. But it an eye-opener: without any oubt the much-loathed "F" word now dominates human communication in the English language. At least according to Osho, the guru formerly Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
Admittedly, the Air New Zealand ad below is sexist. It portrays older single women as man-hungry "cougars" who troll bars for fresh "meat".
It has sparked outrage among rape prevention groups in New Zealand.
But the ad is also funny and, most importantly, spotlights a growing phenomenon - sexually aggressive women 35 and over increasingly pursuing men 10 years younger. The era of the cougar is upon us and it's a good thing.
Besides, we're already warming up to, even celebrating, the cougar, aren't we? The TV comedy "Cougar Town", starring Courtney Cox, comes to mind.
By OBERT MADONDO
As much as I pride myself for being a racially tolerant person, the video below made me realize that humanity is not yet out of the evil grasp of the era of slavery. It's not yet Uhuru!
Blacks descendants of African slaves brought to Iraq hundreds of years ago still live as second-class citizens of the "free" Iraq. They are routinely discriminated against and, sometimes, called "slaves".
By OBERT MADONDO
Fancy an HD tour of the universe, from Tibet to the furthest observable end? The Known Universe, a American Museum of Natural History video, takes you there.
The video captures "every satellite, moon, planet, star and galaxy" to scale.
Maybe I'm a bit biased. I discovered the video today, my 38th birthday, and my spirits soared. I felt like floating in space, rubbing shoulders with the stars and planets and gliding through the "inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang".
I just couldn't help sharing... Enjoy!
"Baywatch" star Nicole Eggert has put in considerable weight lately. And the self-appointed weight police is out to get her - judging and calling her FAT.
She is not fat. She's the real deal.
Eggert herself is not letting men's idealizations of women go unchallenged this time. In this Funnie Or Die video, her message is simple but emphatic:
By OBERT MADONDO
Brazil unveils itself the world. The stunning beauty and racial diversity of Brazil is here for the world to see. If there is a country on this planet more racially diverse, more beautiful, please let me know.
It happened on last night's episode of the Fox hit show So You Think You Can Dance. An aspiring contestant reacted to the news that she'd be progressing to the next round by rolling on the floor and spreading her legs.
She wore a short skirt and no underwear.
In a state of complete abandonment the contestant exposed her bare crotch and herself to the world.
Sure, it's just a vagina and we adults have seen one. But this was primetime and on Fox, conservative America's favorite.
The question is: how much will the FCC fine Fox for what's obviously Vaginagate? Please don't tell me: nothing. Not after the gods of decency slapped CBS with a $550 000 fine for Janet Jackson's Nipplegate, where Jackson showed her breast on live
television during the Super Bowl halftime show.
This one is the mother of all insults. Canada is America's biggest trading partner and staunchest ally on the war on terror. Today, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the White and how was he treated?
Apparent President Barack Obama was too busy to welcome PM Harper in person. White House protocol chief Capricia Marshall wasn't at the West Wing to greet Harper either. Washington was so busy there was no high-profile aide at Harper's arrival at all.
Instead, the White House send the Deputy Chiedf of Protocol to greet Harper. But that was not enough. Harper's meeting with Obama lasted only 42
minutes.
The US media was in on the snub. Mr. Harper's trip
dominated headlines in Canada but barely registered in the States.
This is not the way to treat a neighbor, friend, partner and ally.
Former Democratic US President Jimmy Carter attributes Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst - and much of the conservative opposition that President Obama is receiving - to RACISM.
To be precise: "fears of a black
president" and "the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around
the country, that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this
great country".
The US Open has a new champ, Juan Martin Del Potro! The 20-year old Argentine performed an impossible giant-killing act to get to the top. He slayed a mammoth, all-time major winner, Roger Federer, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
This was more than a tennis match. It became the spectacular fall of a giant and simultaneous rise of a dwarf. History will call it a defeat of the favorite and victory of the underdog.
Federer hadn't lost a match at Flushing Meadows in 6 years. After 40 consecutive victories at this venue, he was on the brink of equaling Bill Tilden's 1920-25 six straight
American championship wins.
The US Open is the first slam title for Del Potro, ranked 6th.
Here's a video of the last 5.22 minutes of the spectacular match:
19-year-old Turkish-Dutch singer Karsu Dönmez is the 'Dutch answer to Norah Jones'. She looks and sounds like Norah Jones. She's as talented. She plays the piano. Karsu has played - twice - at the Carnegie Hall in New York.
The American debate on Universal Health Care rages like wildfire. That's the American way, right?
Except for one thing: Canada's health system has become a primary reference point. The American right wing trashes it. Both side refer to it with absolute ignorance.
I take exception to the insults and ignorance. 92% of Canadians believe that the Canadian health care system works because it works. It's one of the best in the world. Why? It's a rooted in the Canadian belief that health care is a birthright and a human right.
In this video, real Canadians set the record straight and defend Canada's health care system:
Isn't it time the rest of the world participates in US domestic issues and processes? In the post-September 11 era, most the US' domestic processes and policies affect us all, wherever we are. President Barack Obama's America is willing to learn from other countries to make this great sole superpower even greater.
The current health care debate is a good example.
The video below, from LinkTV's Global Pulse program, compares health care system in the US and other leading countries. But it also reveals how the principal actors in the US health care debate are increasingly stepping beyond US borders to borrow from other countries to hammer their point home.
And the door is open for the rest of the world to chip in. This Link TV's Real Conversations program allows the global online
community to tell their own health care stories no matter where they live. Can the US ignore such conversations? I doubt it.
Once again, President Obama reaches out to the Muslim world. On Thursday, Mr. Obama extended his best wishes to Muslims around the world during Ramadan.
Abject poverty across Iraq is fuelling an illegal trade in human organs.
Hundreds of people are believed to have sold kidneys and other organs through dealers in the capital, Baghdad, over the last year.
Karim Hussein made the long journey from Amara, a province in the south of Iraq, to Baghdad because he was desperate for the $3,000 he would get from the sale of a kidney there.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan talks to the BBC's Mantej Deol about the economic climate, financing for films, how Slumdog Millionaire has opened up partnerships between Hollywood and Bollywood - and his latest film.
Personal journeys have always inspired me. But very few people inspire me as profoundly as Cambodian blues musician, Kong Nay, does. He is both a survivor and artistic ambassador.
Blinded by smallpox as a child, Kong Nay survived the brutal Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia.
Now in his sixties, Kong Nay is widely celebrated as the king of the blues in Cambodia and master of the the chapei, a traditional long-necked two-string guitar. He sings songs that have a history stretching back 25 centuries.
Barack Obama is not the only unheralded breaker of traditional and race-based barriers. Meet Alysa Stanton, the "new face of Judaism", ordained recently:
This CBC documentary - Canada's Ugly Secret - has left me with a simple conclusion: Canada is exporting death to developing countries to protect the profits of a handful of companies and the jobs of less than 2 000 Canadian asbestos miners.
The CBC's Mellissa Fung reports on how Canada's sales of asbestos to developing countries such as India is leaving a trail of people sick and dying from asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Nearly every developed country - as well as a growing number of developing nations - has banned asbestos. Not Canada. Canada now holds the infamous title of the "biggest asbestos exporter in the world". Canada has no problem exporting the deadly product to countries in the developing world.
After all, these countries have less stringent health regulations. And the poor workers trapped in asbestos-related indsutries in these countries have no voice to demand both protective measures and medical attention.
But as if to suggest that Canadians are more human than the people of developing countries, Canada has banned the domestic use of asbestos.
Frankly, how can Canada still claim to be a compassionate and responsible global citizen?
I couldn't resist this New York Times video. It's inspiring and brow-rousing. Comic, even.
The business is a thriving, multi-million dollar fetish and bondage-wear venture operating from Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital.
The owners are from a lower-class family and theirs is a self-made journey. The business operates from right in the midst of a conservative Islamic culture.
And the owners claim: "70% of our customers are Democrats'. That's members of the Democratic Party in the US.
He makes you wonder: what does it take to father a math & science genius who enrols in college at 8 and, at 11, graduates with a 4.0 GPA. For now, there's only one such genius. His name is Moshe Kai Cavalin, 11, who just graduated Friday from East Los Angeles College.
The big question is: did Moshe's race play a part in creating this genius? On the surface, it did. Moshe is the only child of a Taiwanese mother and Israeli father. We are immediately tempted to conclude that Moshe's brilliance is a product of intrinsic intellect. After all, Asian Americans constitute about 20 percent of students at the highly competitive Harvard University.
Jews dominate the Nobel Prizes. Jewish Americans have received about one-third of all Nobel Prizes in science received by Americans.
In reality, though, Moshe's brilliance is not a product of intrinsic intellect. Moshe himself would rather you not call him a genius. He says: "I consider myself a regular kid who works hard and does his best."
I hear "regular kid" who "works hard" and "does his best".
Still racial background is a factor. Jews and Chinese have a particularly strong tradition of respect for scholarship. Confucianism has hard work as an unalterable virtue.
Nicholas D. Kristof suggests in his op-ed article today that its all about "Rising Above I.O.". He notes the "importance of improved nurture — which, from a public policy perspective, means a focus on education".
Kristof further argues that "what we think of as intelligence is quite malleable and owes little or nothing to genetics".
Moshe's success has nothing to do with whatever innate advantages his race might be assumed to have. He worked harder. An accomplished martial artist, Moshe is disciplined, humble and focused. He idolizes Albert Einstein and Bruce Lee.
We have witnessed the GOP's fall in in popularity in recent years, thanks to the never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, extremist conservative views on social issues, mainstreaming of torture, the dire economy and - George W. Bush.
Barack Obama's defeat of Republican Presidential candiadate John McCain last November was a rebuttal of the Bush era and most things conservative. It represents to all of us around the world a progressive shift toward more inclusion and tolerance of diversity.
This "meaning" has resonated with the GOP in the post-Bush era. The party has not concealed its desire to create a new, reinvigorated political persona, one that seemingly embraces racial diversity.
By electing Michale Steele as its first black national chairperson, the GOP offered its response to long-lingering charges of racial exclusion and, of course, the election of Barack Obama as first the African-American president of the United Staes. The GOP is determined to forge a new link with reality. I will give them that.
And yet the desperation continues. The Young Cons, out of Dartmouth College, just discovered a new way to spread conservative beliefs - through rapping.
In their "Young Con Anthem", they hail Jesus, Ronald Reagan and even embrace the father of the civil right movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Here is the "Young Con Anthem":
As if GOP rap music was not unusual enough, there is even a Hip-Hop Republicans "movement of urban and inner-city Republicans and Libertarians".
Trouble is: a conservative party by any other name will still seem just as unappealing.
At last, Dutch multinational oil giant, Shell, will stand trial in United States federal court at the end of May to answer to charges that it sponsored crimes against humanity in Nigeria in the 1990s. The case against Shell will include the execution of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues.
This mini-documentary documents the story of the rise of an inspiring and nonviolent movement for human rights and environmental justice.
No doubt, the trial will be lengthy and costly. Shell will use its vast resources to dodge responsibility. Besides, the West's insatiable addiction to oil and other resources in dictatorial and brutal regimes around the world will work in Shell's favor.
But we can all play our part in the pursuit of justice against Shell and other multinational companies sponsoring crimes against humanity in pursuit of profits:
Norway is the winner of the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow after its young violinist and singer, Alexander Rybak, received the most points from the audience and the contest's professional jury.
Ethnic-Belarussian Rybak and his "Fairy Tale" song accumulated 387 points to propel Norway to the top of 25 participating countries. Iceland came second with 218 points and Azerbaijan third with 207 points.
Homework for Norway, next year's host: The Eurovision Song Contest is a gigantic and glamorous thing in Europe but a near non-event for the rest of the world.
If its going to be another fairy tale, why not make it a fairy tale for the rest of the world?
In a victory for women in male-dominated and conservative societies everywhere, Kuwait elected its first four women to parliament yesterday.
The victory is a "female revolution", according to this Al Jazeera report.
VIDEO
The big losers were radical fundamentalist Muslims. They won 16 seats, down from the 24 seats they held in the previous legislature.
The radicals have fought against extending political rights to women, and pushed for full implementation of Islamic law, or Sharia. They have banned coeducation at universities.
The radicals loss of 8 seats is significant. It is a defeat. It is a rejection of their efforts to maintain social restrictions in an era where the world is increasingly warming up to women as leaders.
This victory is another giant step in the disintegration of barriers that have kept women out of power for far too long.
At the opening of the 'John Lennon: The New York Years' exhibition, Yoko Ono revealed that she is still hanuted by private memories of her late husband. She recalls especially how suddenly John Lennon was taken away from her.
The show features memorabilia from Ono's personal collection.
While reporting on Craig Ferguson's the "Late Late Show", Tim Meadows diverts from the subject of George Bush torture memos and launches into all sorts of conspiracy theories.
Britain's Got Talent singing sensation, Susan Boyle, intervenes... with a gun.
I find myself reflecting on the ongoing killings of Albinos in Tanzania again. According to this New York Times story, "more than 40 have been killed since 2007, sometimes right in front of their families, by gangs of men who hack off legs, heads or genitals and run away with them".
Why? Why? Why?
Being so far removed from the scene of this horror, all I can do is celebrate two of the many incredible Albinos around the world:
While growing up, Canadian Peter Ash was regularly tormented by other youth. He recently founded Under the Same Sun, "a charity devoted to defending albinos and to embarrassing the Tanzanian government into stopping the killings".
In his own words, according to the New York Times: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing? I decided not to do nothing."
Malian Salif Keita is world-famous and one of the best African musicians around. His music is haunting and uplifting at the same time.
Salif's personal story is that of triumph over adversity. He was once disowned by his own father. He had to briefly leave his own country to return as a respected human being and artist.
At a time when obesity is on the rampage, some airlines are forcing "fat" people to buy an extra seat if one is not enough.
The frightening thing is that some obese people are beginning to accept this as "fair". It is not fair.
It is not fair to penalize someone for the size of their body. We can't all be annorexic like Angelina Jolie. People come in all shapes and sizes. It's a form of diversity.
In fact charging fat people extra is the new hate.
Today is Earth Day. Its your day. Join the rest of the world in celebrating our world. But do something to keep the world in good shape for future generations. Act. Recycle. Plant a tree. Reduce waster. Spread the awareness...
In his continuing effort to rebrand America's global image, US President Barack Obama bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G20 Summit in London last week.
Mr. Obama is moving America in the right direction. He is giving the world less and less of arrogant America and more and more of friendly, humane, America.
Besides, respecting other values and traditions is a good thing.
During his recent visit to Africa, the Pope ignited a storm of angry criticism when he trashed the use of condoms against HIV & AIDS. I weighed in on the issue with: This Pope is Mad and Out of Touch.
In this parody by Patrick Boivin, the brains behind the Iron Man Vs. Bruce Lee video, Jesus joins the Pope in the boxing ring and kicks the pontiff's ass.
ENJOY:
Don't be Pope-stupid. Enjoy sex. Protect yourself and your partner: wear a condom all the time.
Billy Bob Thornton is known for many things. He has appeared in more than 50 films, won an Oscar for Sling Blade and used to date Angelina Jolie. He as also been variously described as a bit strange.
This week Thornton added to his strangeness while promoting his band Boxmasters on Canada's CBC radio. Interviewed by Canadian radio host, Jian Goemeshi, Thornton became combative, sometimes looked confused, and often mumbled nonsensical and irrelevant answers.
For example, when asked about his musical influences as a child, Thornton replied: "I just liked baseball as a kid." When Gomeshi suggested that Thornton had a passion for music, Thornton answered: "Would you say that to Tom Petty?"
Has President Obama joined Turkey's ongoing, million dollar campaign against acknowledging the Armenian genocide?
During the presidential campaign candidate Obama explicitly said Turkey's 1915 slaughter of 1.5million Armenians was a genocide.
Addressing the Turkish Parliament during his recent overseas trip, President Obama praise Turkey's "strong, vibrant, secular democracy" but avoided calling this mass murder a genocide. He called it "the terrible events of 1915".
With this clear shift of position, can Mr. Obama be trusted to speak truthfully and unequivocally against genocides and crimes against humanity? He admitted to chosing Turkey "to send a message to the world". Maybe some genocides are more equal than others.
In this harsh and sweeping indictment of race relations in the US, Attorney General, Eric Holder, suggests that Americans do not talk about race in a productive way...
Holder speaks for me. In face-to-face situations, the majority of my friends simply do not talk about race in a productive way. Any discussion of race often too quickly degenerates into name calling, uneasiness and even defensiveness. The opposing view is hardly seldom entertained.
And yet, many will swear they aren't racist at all. If you aren't racist, why should talking race make you uneasy.
Forever the world is changing! It’s now the fastest train in the world. The one that has just left the station.
Slow at first, the train picks up speed. Within seconds, it’s cruising at rocket-speed. The beckoning future is the train‘s destination. It is a future of diversity and tolerance.
The majority of us are first-class passengers on the train. There is no other class on the train.
We earned the right to be here. We overcame the odds and embraced diversity. We saw in our diversity that we are more than we are. We are one.
We earned the citizenship of the future.
Still, we leave behind quite a handful. They too were offered a seat on the train. And the citizenship. They declined both.
Diversity terrifies them. They fear losing the old order of things. To dead ideas they fiercely cling. They even invent mountains of conspiracies against diversity.
As the train cruises further and further from their static world, their fear mutates. It becomes anger. Raw anger. So great is their fury that they declare war. War against the future. They invade our radios, the internet and television sets.
Especially televisions sets.
Through words they seek once more:
To keep us all weak
To keep us all fearful
To keep us all helpless
To keep us all under control
Theirs are not just words. They are… code words of hate.
ROBERT MUGABE'S ACCOMPLICES Robert Mugabe's Accomplices blog pursues the whole truth about Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe. Mugabe is an enigma: villain and hero. Some of your heroes are his accomplices. I guarantee it.
Recent Comments