100th year of historic mock convention picks Hillary Clinton

As Democratic voters went to the polls in South Carolina over the weekend, strange things were happening here: Hard-core Republicans stood and cheered for Jesse L. Jackson, and Barack Obama supporters cast votes for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It's the 100th year of Washington and Lee University's mock convention, an event that has featured elephants, speakers such as Harry S. Truman and Jimmy Carter, more than a few epic parties and one dramatic death.

The convention predicts the nominee of the party not currently in the White House. It is meticulously researched and not infrequently giddy. And it has a remarkable record for accurate picks - only once in 60 years has it chosen the wrong nominee.

The delegates gathered on January 26 to make this year's call - a toughie. Nothing like decades of pressure and having a national spotlight on you.

The leaders of the student-run convention, who worked on it for 2 1/2 years, have had their share of sleepless nights. Not only are there 100 years of tradition to uphold and the sense that this year's election will make history, but the field is more unpredictable than it has been for years.

Organizers don't rely on polls but on grassroots research, said Richard Friedman, a premed senior who served as general chairman.

More than 90 percent of the student body participates, about 1,700 people. Each state's delegation conducts local research - reading newspapers, learning caucus rules and calling campaign staffers, district party leaders, reporters, professors and anyone else they can think of to help them gauge how their delegates are likely to vote.

The accuracy of the predictions doesn't matter as much as the research, said

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NY Department of Education sued over alleged quota system

Last June (2007) husband and wife Dr's.

Anjan Rau and Kanchan Katapadi of Brooklyn, NY, had complained about the alleged quota system followed by the Mark Twain Intermediate School in the Eastern district of New York. But when the state education authorities did not act, the two went to court.

The Washington-based Center for Individual Rights (CIR) on January 14 took up their case and filed a motion against the New York City Department of Education challenging the use of "separate, lower admissions standards for white students at the prestigious Mark Twain Intermediate School in order to boost the number of white students at the school," said CIR in its release.

"The case is going to be at the Eastern District Court because that court had made a ruling in 1974 that minority students can not be more than white students. The ratio should be 60-40," Dr. Rau told Desi Talk.

Rau and Katapadi, have three children..

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Article taken from the issue: 25 Jan 2008

New York Supreme Court upholds New York judge selection system

Unlike in lower courts, where judicial candidates can challenge party nominees in primaries, State Supreme Court candidates are chosen by delegates at party nomination conventions. The delegates generally rubber-stamp the choice of the party leader, and the outcomes cannot be challenged in a primary.

N ew York's system of electing state Supreme Court judges may be far from ideal, but it is certainly not unconstitutional, the nation's highest court said on January 16 in a unanimous ruling that was welcomed by political party leaders.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision was in response to a 2004 lawsuit filed by Brooklyn Surrogate Court Judge Margarita Lopez Torres, who said she was denied the Democratic Party nomination to a State Supreme Court seat because she refused to hire a politically connected lawyer as her law secretary.

Torres argued that New York's system of having judicial candidates essentially handpicked by party bosses violated voters' First Amendment rights.

Unlike in lower courts, where judicial candidates can challenge party nominees in primaries, State Supreme Court candidates are chosen by delegates at party nomination conventions. The delegates generally rubberstamp the choice of the party leader, and the outcomes cannot be challenged in a primary.

In a 2006 decision in U.S. District Court, Judge John Gleeson agreed that the system was "an opaque, undemocratic one" and ordered it overturned. An appeals court upheld his decision.

But in its decision January 16, the U.S.

Supreme Court said that, while the system may be unwise, it does not violate the Constitution. It also noted that the convention system's detractors appeared to have more of a beef with their chosen party leaders and delegates than with the system itself.

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Article taken from the issue: 25 Jan 2008

1 BILLION BAGS, ANNUAL NYC USAGE - New York City Council votes 44 to 2 to mandate recycling of plastic bags

Environmentalists have targeted plastic bags as a scourge that take years to biodegrade and contaminate soil and water...

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Article taken from the issue: 25 Jan 2008

India's first serial for mobiles next month

Digital technology has changed the economics of India's Rs. 440 billion ($11 billion) entertainment industry, and entrepreneur Rajat Barjatya - scion of one of Bollywood's biggest film banners - is set to tap it in a big way.

Rajat Barjatiya, the younger brother of Sooraj Barjatya who owns Rajshri Productions, is coming up with a serial for mobile phone users in India.

"I hate to use the term first. I would rather say that we are among the first to make a serious attempt at doing this. We have produced a 90 episode series, with three minutes per episode, and it is in the humor genre," Rajat told IANS in an interview in New Delhi.

Barjatiya launched his company Rajshri Media last year that specializes in producing content for new media like Internet, mobile phones and i pods.

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Article taken from the issue: 18 Jan 2008

Making sense of India through fog of acronyms, abbreviations

India's love affair with short forms is related to its multilingual character, where English is an official language that in theory unites disparate cultures but in practice is only spoken fluently by an elite of its billion-plus population.

They challenge your newspaper literacy, interrupt otherwise intelligible conversations, and add to the difficulty of finding your way. The culprits: India's endemic acronyms, abbreviations and initials.

Bureaucrats across the world pack official reports with them, but India distinguishes itself by relishing in their everyday use, from place names to first names and even swear words.

In the first year of an assignment in India, acronyms and abbreviations were one of the barriers to understanding the country, from identifying its myriad rebel groups to getting directions to a decent bar.

These short forms also show how India's multilingual culture, with its 22 official languages, is adapting as English becomes increasingly important to an emerging Asian giant.

Like any foreign correspondent, I have to read the newspapers -- and understand them. In my first few days in the country I knew I was in trouble.

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Article taken from the issue: 18 Jan 2008

National Gallery to host Afghan artifacts including from India

As a trove of history, the artifacts are as edifying as they are beautiful. Selected from four separate sites, they span 3,000 years, beginning circa 2500 B.C. (during the Bronze Age), and include designs, scripts and images from a dozen cultures as far- flung as India, China and Rome. T hey survived the collapse of civilizations and crossed the known world on camel back.

Some lay buried for centuries in an Afghan nomad's sepulcher. Others were spirited out of a museum in modern-day Kabul under siege from looters and religious fanatics, then hidden in secret vaults under the presidential palace.

Now, a selection of Afghanistan's ancient artistic treasures - from a dagger hilt carved with a Siberian bear to Greek coins from an excavated city called Woman of the Moon - is scheduled to come to Washington next May and continue on a 17-month national tour, according to an announcement by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibit, which will be on display here for nearly four months before traveling to museums in New York, San Francisco and Houston, aims to provide a rare glimpse of the long-lost, creative melting pot that Afghanistan once represented centuries before it became known to most Westerners as a grim Cold War battlefield and a victim of horrific Islamic repression under the Taliban.

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Article taken from the issue: 18 Jan 2008

Smoking rate among teens lowest in 2007

The survey is based on results of the 2007 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire adapted for New York City from protocols developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 2007 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Survey released on January 2, shows that cigarette smoking among New York City teens declined by 20 percent between 2005 and 2007.

The City's teen smoking rate has dropped by more than half over the past six years from 17.6 percent in 2001 to 8.5 percent in 2007, the current rate that is about two-thirds lower than the latest available national teen smoking rate of 23 percent.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg linked the continuing decline – which far exceeds the national decline – to the City's sustained efforts to reduce smoking among adults. Those efforts include a tax increase, the smoke-free workplace law, and TV and subway ads that graphically depict the realities of tobacco-related illnesses.

In 2007, an estimated 20,000 students smoked cigarettes. Had smoking not declined since 2001, there would have been at least 24,000 additional teens smoking in New York City. This decrease will prevent an estimated 8,000 premature deaths. The largest recent declines in teen smoking were observed in Staten Island (down 36 percent between 2005 and 2007), and the Bronx (down 37 percent). Teen smoking remains highest in Staten Island at 14.7 percent...

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Article taken from the issue: 18 Jan 2008

Immigrant children are at increased risk of lead poisoning

The study is the first to look at lead poisoning in New York City's immigrant children.

Immigrant children are five times as likely as U.S-born children to suffer from lead poisoning in New York City, according to a new Health Department study, and the risk is highest among the most recent immigrants. The new study of children tested for lead poisoning in 2002, published online in the American Journal of Public Health this month, found that children who had lived abroad within the previous six months were 11 times as likely as U.S.-born children to have lead poisoning. The most affected children were from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico and Pakistan - nations where lead may be less tightly regulated than in the United States. The study is the first to look at lead poisoning in New York City's immigrant children.

Lead-based paint is the primary cause of lead poisoning for both U.S. and foreign-born children in New York City, but immigrant children may face additional lead threats in their home countries. Of the 800 lead poisoned children requiring home investigations in 2006, Health Department staff identified lead paint hazards in 80 percent of U.S. born cases but only 65 percent of foreign born cases. While it is not possible to document the exact sources of lead exposure for these immigrant children, other research has shown that pollution, foods, herbal medicines, dishes, toys, jewelry, and cosmetics are sources of lead in foreign countries.

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Article taken from the issue: 11 Jan 2008

Bloomberg at nonpartisan summit implored White House contenders to change tenor

Issuing a call for "national unity," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a nonparti san summit on January 7 implored the 2008 White House contenders to change the tenor of presidential politics but insisted that fielding an independent candidate isn't how they want to do it.

"The focus of our meeting is not to stop any candidate or to start any candidate, it's to be a catalyst," said University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former senator and an organizer of the summit, which was held on his campus.

However, Boren -- much like Bloomberg has over the past several months -- fanned speculation even as he seemed to be dismissing it. "Our two-party system has served us pretty well. We just need to get it working again," he said. " ... I hope it won't come to a necessity of people like me and others having to push someone like Mayor Bloomberg to run."

For his part, Bloomberg offered a carefully phrased denial when asked how he might bring the country together if he were "to run for higher office."

"Well, look, I'm not a candidate, No. 1," he said. "... What has happened is that people have stopped working together. Government is dysfunctional."

Although the event drew 17 prominent Democrats, Republicans and independents -including former senators, governors, ambassadors and cabinet members -- the spotlight shone most brightly on New York's billionaire mayor and the prospect of him waging a self financed presidential bid.

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Article taken from the issue: 11 Jan 2008

A chink in Hillary Clinton's armor - At campaign stop Clinton let slip glimpse of uncontrolled emotion

For a brief moment at a campaign stop in Portsmouth, N.H., Hillary Clinton let slip a glimpse of uncontrolled emotion. In response to a question from an empathetic voter who wondered how she remains upbeat and "so wonderful," Clinton's voice cracked as she conceded that the nonstop campaigning - and all it entails is not easy.

Clinton got choked up. Her voice grew softer.

Her eyes grew moist. And she cupped her chin in her hand in a gesture that seemed to indicate both exhaustion and frustration. The candidate, who has presented a consistent face of steely determination and invincibility, had a jarring moment of vulnerability.

Clinton didn't cry. God, no. A woman seeking the presidency isn't allowed to do that no matter how tired she gets and how often she hears: People just don't like you. As if choosing the next commander in chief is akin to electing a student body president. So there were no tears rolling down Clinton's cheeks, and there was no messy sniffling. As displays of emotion go, this one was tasteful and reserved - and ever so brief. It was like one of those perfect flickers of sadness that won Helen Mirren an Oscar for "The Queen." It was dignified, yet human.

But nothing is ever that simple with Clinton.

As she herself has noted, she is a Rorschach test for the way in which we believe women get ahead, handle power, negotiate marriage and make us all feel warm, fuzzy and protected. With Clinton, whom people so often view through their own personal lens, the same fleeting gestures can be interpreted as both coldly calculating and wimpy.

Over the past 17 years, Clinton has construct ed a public face that is controlled and largely inscrutable. Spontaneity and emotional frankness are not character traits one associates with her.

During her greatest public trials, even when discussing her husband's betrayal while promoting her memoir, Clinton presented herself as a fighter.

She never has come across as wounded. Angry maybe. Defiant perhaps. The public is accustomed to seeing those on her face and hearing them in her voice. They ring true. Everything else seems suspect. (Even her laughter has been analyzed and judged inappropriate, insincere and annoying.) It's no great leap to wonder whether that cracking in her voice had been self-consciously conjured up. Clinton got teary-eyed? Really? The disbelief might be cynical, but not unreasonable.

How does she convince observers - those pesky pundits, the annoying media, the relentless bloggers - that her husky-voiced emotion was real? Would she have been more persuasive if she'd shed one perfect tear like Demi Moore in "Ghost"?

Of course, if she comes across as too authentically vulnerable and tender she runs the risk of being called a wuss. Can't stand the heat, Hillary? The mere indication that her tear ducts

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Malaysia moves to preserve temples to calm Indians

Malaysia vowed to preserve Hindu temples on December 24 in a bid to calm ethnic Indians who complain that their places of worship have been torn down as part of racial discrimination.

More than 10,000 ethnic Indians took to the streets in an unprecedented anti-government protest last month, demanding better education and job opportunities and an end to state demolition of temples.

"I will scrutinize all matters concerning temples with a view to ensure no temples are demolished in the future," Works Minister S. Samy Vellu, the only ethnic Indian minister in the cabinet said in a statement.

"And if they have to be demolished, suitable alternative sites must be allocated so that Hindus can continue to worship," he said, adding that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had ordered him to monitor the temples nationwide.

Hindu activists say one temple had been pulled down every three weeks on average.

Authorities deem temples built without permission as

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An interview with Soha Ali Khan

Soha Ali Khan says she enjoyed working in Sudhir Mishra's ‘Khoya Khoya Chand' as it has been her most glamorous role till date.

"For me personally it was a beautiful and unique experience. The past is always exciting. It was so much fun dressing up for this role. This was my most glamorous role to date," Khan told IANS in an interview.

Asked if the film was based on the relationship between Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman, Khan said, "Sudhir Mishra is definitely inspired by them. But the central romance between my character and Shiney Ahuja's is simply reminiscent of all romances in the film industry in the 1950s. You could say my character is a professional colleague of Waheeda Rehman."

Khan said she had to work hard for the role and spent four months improving her command over Urdu.

"I had to do a lot of preparation - from learning to ride a horse to sword fighting to classical dancing and a sexy cabaret number," she said.

Excerpts from the interview: Q: ‘Khoya Khoya Chand' is your second period film.

You mean after Rituparno Ghosh's ‘Antar Mahal'. But, my god, they are two completely different eras! I love going back in time. That is why I studied history. Even when I take off my makeup and wear a pair of jeans people say I belong to a different era.

Q: Is this a film about Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman?

Sudhir Mishra is definitely inspired by them.

But the central romance between my character and Shiney Ahuja's is simply reminiscent of all romances in the film industry in the 1950s. You could say my character is a professional colleague of Waheeda Rehman.

Q: Could she be Sharmila Tagore?

My mother would be a generation removed from my character. My mother would probably have grown up watching my character from ‘Khoya Khoya Chand'. My mom thinks I look like her only in passing. But everyone thinks I look a lot like her.

Q: Today you seem to prefer unconventional roles.

That is a narrow place to be in. It slots you as serious and arty. I am a fun person in real life. I like to make people laugh. And I would like to do that on screen. But there aren't too many comic roles written for female leads. I don't know why.

Q: So, are you funny in ‘Khoya Khoya Chand'?

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Richa Gangopadhyay crowned 'Nationwide Miss India USA 2007'

At a gala event on December 28 at the Royal Albert's Palace, Fords, New Jersey, Richa Gangopadhyay of Michigan was crowned 'Nationwide Miss India USA 2007'.

The twenty-sixth annual pageant was organized by the New York-based India Festival Committee (IFC), headed by Dharmatma Saran, founder and the chief organizer of the Pageant, in association with Royal Albert's Palace. Nationwide, the financial services firm, was the title sponsor of the pageant.

Gangopadhyay, 21, is in her final year at the Michigan State University majoring in Dietetics and Nutrition and enjoys dance, music, movies and teaching children about health and nutrition. Gangopadhyay also won the title of 'Miss Photogenic'. She was crowned by outgoing queen Ayushka Singh. Gangopadhyay will represent USA in the Seventeenth Annual Miss India Worldwide Pageant, also organized by IFC, to be held on February 23, 2008, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Article taken from the issue: 4 Jan 2008