Desis For Texas

LP on film

2005-09-01T04:56:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't heard the news: THE ARISTOCRATS records dozens of standup comics, some more famous than others, offering their renditions of the filthiest joke in the world. Apparently, this joke has been shared among comics for generations, but (for reasons that will become apparent to the careful observer) never told on stage. THE ARISTOCRATS presents endless variations on a basic theme. Thesevariations includes every possible profanity, obscenity, crime against nature,etc. There's even a mimed version, and one told by a ventriloquist's dummy.

This movie is strongly recommended for those of you who, like me, are temperamentally irreverent and are not easily shocked. (Three people walked out of the theatre the day I was there, and that's out of twenty or so in attendance.) My own personal high points: Carrie Fisher, Gilbert Gottfried, Mario Cantone (impersonating Liza Minnelli telling the joke), and Bob Saget. The bits are pretty inconsistent, but there are lots and lots of them; if youdon't like that particular comedian, wait thirty seconds.I wish Jack Benny and Milton Berle were around to tell this joke. I hate Jackie Mason, but I wish he'd signed on for this particular project. He'd be good at it.

The best possible remake of this film would subtract Rip Taylor, David Brenner, Rita Rudner, Fred Willard, Bruce Vilanch and several others, and replace them with Rick Santorum, Phyllis Schlafly, Mitt Romney, Jeanine Pirro, PatRobertson, the Rev. Farwell, Bill Frist, and Karl Rove. If it's cosmopolitanism you're after, toss in Kurt Waldheim and Jean Marie le Pen. If you'd like to be nonpartisan about it, then bring on Maxine Waters and Mario Cuomo. Some producer should find a way to compel this.

If that can't work, well, computer generated imaging works wonders.

Les Phillips

HOUSEKEEPING

2005-08-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

We're currently developing the new Desis For Texas blog.

Our increased readership has inspired us to ever further heights of creativity.

Drop us a line!

Dheeraj

Our guys in the news

2005-08-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

Jay Aiyer, our candidate for Houston City Council At Large Position No. 2, is facing a new challenger. The entry of a candidate with Spanish last name throws the significance of ethnic voting alignments into sharp relief. Let's support Jay!

Chris Bell, our Democratic Candidate for Texas Governor, debuted a post from his wife, Allison, on the campaign blog. Allison Ayres Bell discusses the importance of Chris's campaign from the perspective of a mother of two young sons in Texas, and how this race will affect their future.

Chris Bell, our Democratic Candidate for Texas Governor, addressed a crowd of Democrats in Tyler, TX, discussing the dangers of one-party rule.

Corrections

2005-08-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Shortly following our endorsement of Congressman Chris Bell, Democrat, as our candidate for Governor, we were contacted by representatives of the Chris Bell for Governor Campaign. They were happy to have oursupport, but pointed out a factual error in our blog announcement. Our original endorsement erroneously characterized the nature ofCongressman Bell's candidacy for the Mayor of Houston.

Mr. Bell got 16% in the mayor's race and subsequently endorsed Lee Brown in the runoff.. Our endorsement stated that Congressman Bell had stepped out of the race, making room for Lee Brown.

As the one responsible for researching Mr. Bell's past and authoring our statement of endorsement, I take full responsibility for this error, and I am glad to have this opportunity to correct my statement. I wish to thank the Bell campaign for bringing this error to my attention. I shall take greater care in the future regarding any
statement.

We are still proud to stand behind Mr. Bell as he stands for election in Texas, and will do everything in our power to aid him.

Congressmen visit Kashmiri exhibit

2005-08-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Congressman Nick Lampson were among the distinguised guests at the recent exhibit on Kashmiri suffering that took place in Houston recently. French journalist Francois Gautier, a veteran reporter who has been covering South Asia for years now, was motivated by the juxtaposition of the beauty of the land and the ugliness of the violence that he saw to establish The Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, an organisation that has successfully travelled the United States and the United Kingdom with provocative exhibits and information sessions on the horrors of terrorism.

Jackson Lee has been the representative for the 18th Congressional District of Texas since its recent inception, and has been in the U.S. Congress since 1994. The eighteenth district has a huge population of desis, which is reflected in many of her Congressional actions. Indeed, Jackson Lee is the co-chair of the House Pakistan Caucus, and has made many a trip to both India and Pakistan to surveille the conditionst there.

Lampson has been representing southeast Texas for just about thirty years now. He is currently seeking election in the twenty-second congressional district of Texas, hoping to unseat Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Both Congressman Lampson's and Congresswoman Lee's presence at the exhibit showing the painful story of the exodus of Kashmiri pandits has helped bring awareness to the necessity of an immediate, peaceful reconciliation of the Kashmir problem. It also shows that both Representatives are truly responsive to the needs of their constituency, and not just paying lip service.

Dheeraj

Regarding gender differences

2005-08-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

Good morning, dear readers. I hope that both of you had lovely weekends. (Mom, I know that you did. And yes, I'll remember to pick up the dry cleaning.) I would like to begin this week of posts by continuing on a thread I introduced in an earlier post: the differences between men and women, and why this is politically significant. In the former post, I merely took the significance of this issue for granted, and assumed that both of you readers were with me on it, but I think that we should expand a bit on it at this time.

If you'll look to the right, you'll see a list of links to publications that we find interesting. Some of them are right-wing, some are left-wing, some are literary, some are nifty and there are some lucky few who happen to combine everything. One of these super-nifty-left-and-right-as-it-develops magazines is First Things, a magazine of politics, culture and theology published monthly by Neuhaus and a contingent of American Jesuits. I enjoy this magazine quite a bit, although there are few other Desis For Texas staffers who are interested in what they have to say. (Let's just that there are few people involved in our efforts who are anywhere near as geeky as I am, and leave it at that.) Anyway, in last month's issue, there was an interesting book review of two books on gender theory. I thought that the review was subtle and enjoyable enough to warrant being the article linked to in our title link. Whoo-hoo!

At the root of this whole discussion is the so-called battle of the sexes. I'm sure that we've all heard various things through the years from uncles and aunties that supposedly explain why men and women are different. Here are two of my favourite ones to date.

Gurdeep Uncle: A woman's behaviour can be fully explained by words beginning with "in." Indulge, Inquire, Instruct, Investigate, Interpret and Instigate.

Amrita Auntie: The only thing that men care about is keeping women down.

My friend Raj (not the blog writer): I am firmly convinced that there is nothing more horrifying to a woman than the notion that a man is making decisions without her, and furthermore, is happy doing so.

My mother: To determine the emotional age of a man, add the digits of his age together, and you'll get his actual emotional age. So you, son, are twenty-six, which means two plus six, and that's eight. You are emotionally eight years old.

Of course, depending on which bathroom you go to, you're going to probably find humour and sympathy with either position. I've heard any number of people completely agree with any of these statements, and proclaim the genius of the authors thereof. My personal favourite of all these theories is my father's, who described the basic plotlines of all movies and television programmes as

Man bad, woman good. Man makes woman cry. Woman cries. Man is stubborn because he's dirty, stupid, ugly and has no feelings. Man eventually realizes everything that's wrong with him and spends the rest of his life apologising to woman for existing, and makes it up to her by letting her push him around.

Pretty funny, huh?

Of course, there are some serious political issues at play here. Seriously. As we all know from our studies of Plato, the single most important question that we can ask is the "What is?" question.

What is holiness

What is justice?

What is reason?

What is man?

et cetera

Once we know a thing for what it is, we can begin to properly act upon it and integrate it into a political and philosophical system. This preoccupation with determining what a thing is has led many people to think that philosophy is really nothing more than a series of definitional arguments, semantic quibbles, if you will, with no real consequence. That is the classic Marxist line. Til now, philosophers have merely interpreted the world. The thing is to change it.

Consider, though, that all the oppressive laws in history have been based on some understanding of the nature of the people being oppressed.

Women are like children, requiring guidance. One doesn't allow a child to vote. Why should we allow a woman?

Blacks are barely one step removed from the ape, as indicated by their cranial structure. We must keep them in slavery because that is all that they are capable of.

The Indian is enshrouded by mysticism, superstition and ignorance. He is incapable of self-rule.

These are all statements attributing some property to the fundamental nature of women, blacks and Indians - a statement about what they are. Anyone who thinks that these arguments over the nature of men and women don't have political consequences is delusional.

More later. I'm sure that Mimosa will have something to say on the subject. ;)

Dheeraj

LP on film

2005-08-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Best greetings! This is my first appearance on this blog. Congratulations toall of you, and especially Dheeraj; a lot of hard work going on here in a goodcause.I'm Les Phillips, and I'll be writing a weekly column on movies. I'll alternateclassic and current films, week by week. Ordinarily the column will appear onThursdays.

ROMAN HOLIDAY (William Wyler, 1953) is the film that made Audrey Hepburn astar. I saw it epochs ago and remembered it as charming but very slight. I musthave been very stupid. ROMAN HOLIDAY is beautifully crafted, and has a genuine,understated poignance.ROMAN HOLIDAY is an arrangement in grey and black, but also an arrangement ofold and new. Hepburn, whose origins were Belgian/French/Dutch/English, plays aprincess from some indeterminate European country. She's been sent on a tour ofEuropean capitals, a goodwill mission; but her beauty and good nature mask agrowing impatience. Her quarters in Rome are old, majestic and dull. Everyonewho attends her is old and dull. She is always indoors. When she runs away, sheexits through a series of somber, elegant, ancient corridors and entrances andexits, into the freedom of the city. The viewer travels with her through thestreets of everyday and tourist Rome.

ROMAN HOLIDAY is one of the first majorfilms to be shot entirely on location. The city is bright, the people are happyand young and casual and friendly. It is only seven years after the end of theSecond World War, but for Princess Ann, it seems like her first glimpse of thetwentieth century.She also gets to meet Gregory Peck and his sidekick Eddie Albert (who plays asort of 1953 hipster! Named Irving!!). They're American journalists, and theyplay poker and drink bourbon. The black and white of the "holiday" section ofthe film is still black and white, but it plays like color. No music in the film, until the Princess Ann runs away; none after she returns after herholiday, either. The contrast is meticulous and thoughtful.

Hepburn was 23 when she filmed ROMAN HOLIDAY. She wears her grace and gravitas so naturally that she seems older. She is exceptionally beautiful. (I hope Idon't have to tell you about Audrey Hepburn.) William Wyler is such a gooddirector: subtle, fully in control, superb taste, yet capable of surprise. Wyler made gazillions of silent films in the Twenties (18 of them in the year1927!). His experience shows; this is a quiet movie. The screenplay, by theblacklisted Dalton Trumbo, isn't afraid to be silent. The major emotionalshifts in the film are signaled nonverbally. We know that Princess Ann is boredand restless not because she tears her hair and screams, "I'm bored!!!", butbecause Hepburn acts it, and because Wyler shows her slipping one foot, ever so tentatively,out of her shoe. Behold a fifties Hollywood movie almost entirely withoutmusic, virtually without any emotional manipulation of any kind.

The final sequences of ROMAN HOLIDAY are a small masterpiece. THe princess saysgoodbye to Rome in a majestic receiving hall. Hepburn's back to herprincesshood, formal and correct, but expressing a lovely range of emotion,almost covertly. The very last scene is Peck's. He says not a word; Wyler'sdirection of the final ninety seconds says everything for him.

ROMAN HOLIDAY is easy to overlook, if you're not really looking. The romantic story isn't fresh, the suspense is nothing special, even the one actionsequence (a fistfight) is done gently. Really it is a film about nobility, ofthe common and royal varieties, and what it might mean to be noble. See thisfilm if you haven't; see it again, if you have.

Les Phillips

les_phillips98@yahoo.com

Desis For Texas Endorses Jay Aiyer, Houston City Council At Large No. 2

2005-08-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that the endorsement committee of Desis For Texas has unanimously voted to endorse Jay Aiyer in his bid for Houston City Council. As a native Houstonian, the honour of writing the 'blog announcement has fallen to me.

Jay Aiyer's bid for City Council represents the triumph of the desi immigrants. As mentioned in an earlier post, we have been coming here for generations, preoccupied with working hard to provide the kind of opportunity that was never available in the homelands. Jay was able to attend top-notch schools in Alief and Fort Bend ISD, my beloved alma mater, The University of Texas and later, law school here in Texas. He was a first-class student at every step of the way, all of which paved the way for his career in public service.

Jay's devotion to the City of Houston has been obvious at every step of his career and in every action taken. He's served as Chief of Staff to the Mayor's Office, bring his history of sound management and efficiency development to the organised chaos that was once the municipal bureaucracy. He's helped streamline and energize the Houston Community College System, making higher education not only more affordable, but of a higher quality. He's participated in leadership forums and mentorship programmes for Houston entrepreneurs and aspiring civil servants.

And yet, while he has a sterling history, we are not endorsing him because of it. We are endorsing him because we believe that his future is more promising. Jay's vision of what Houston can be and how we can get there is an exciting game plan for the country's third largest city.

Using the private sector in conjunction with public sector coordination will not only free up quite a bit of redundant municipal spending, but will also bring Houstonians better services with greater speed.

Consolidating the training of first-response emergency aid workers into a centralised system and integrating this academy with the Houston Community College System will not only provide for more robust and better trained emergency force, it will do so at a significantly cheaper cost.

Houston is about to undergo an infrastructure crisis. We need to have manageable and affordable mass transit. Jay's plan to further develop what Bill White began will only lead to a safer and more navigable environment in which businesses can flourish.

Jay Aiyer's vision for Houston is the right vision, and Desis For Texas is proud to lend him all the support that we can.

Dheeraj

Jokes of The Week

2005-08-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to top The Sacred and Holy Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster, but I think that we can do it.

A desi couple was blessed with quadruplets. As they were birthed, the doctor asked the father what he wanted to name each child.

"This one is Chirag."

"Yes, sir."

"This one is Mahabhir."

"Yes, sir."

"This one is Devanand."

"Yes, sir."

"And this one is Wong Fu-Lee."

"Wong Fu-Lee?"

"Yes."

"What? Why?"

"Don't you know? I saw on the news yesterday that every fourth child born is Chinese."

(drum roll)

Let the produce fly, ladies and gents.

Dheeraj

More on Intelligent Design.

2005-08-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

As a recent convert to Pastafarianism, I think it important that we call on the Republican leadership to make sure that my beliefs in The Flying Spaghetti monster, the flatness of the earth, geocentrism and the horrors of miscegation.

My retrograde beliefs are threatened by science! HELP!

Dheeraj

p.s. For some intelligent discussion of how the religious right have become nothing than a bunch of pomods, albeit, with far lamer clothes and less sense of fun, I advise that you read this great article from The New Republic.

Desis For Texas Endorses Chris Bell, Democratic Candidate For Governor

2005-08-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

As a native Houstonian, I am proud to write our 'blog announcement about endorsing Congressman Chris Bell for Governor of Texas in 2006. Our board was happy to unanimously vote for Chris, and we're thrilled to see that he's continuing his service to The Lone Star State.

Since I've been in Houston, Congressman Bell has been a voice of responsibility, prudence and good sense. I remember watching the news when I first went to college, and seeing him campaign for the City Council elections. Right there, in that first bid for public service, were the seeds of what grew into his political ethos. He was telling Houstonians about how their government needed to be more efficient, more transparent, more honest about how they were spending the tax revenues and more accountable to the people. He demonstrated that we could have a better, stronger and more progressive city government without having to raise taxes, and in fact, by cutting them. He also authored legislation that made it more difficult for former municipal employees and servants to parlay their service into lucrative lobbying contracts, lining their pockets with monies exacted from hard-working Houstonians. I had never seen a politician talk that talk, much less walk that walk. At the time, I was just beginning to question my involvement in the Republican party, and I remember thinking that if this is what Democrats were like, perhaps I should switch parties.

Congressman Bell's legacy to the Houston City Council was a stronger, more efficient, more transparent and more progressive city government with property taxes. This legacy parlayed itself into his mayoral campaign, where once again, he astounded the city by backing out of a run-off race, and endorsing Lee Brown. Rather than put the city through a divisive three-way run-off, Congressman Bell decided to back out and serve elsewhere.

This brings us to Congress. As a Congressman, Chris Bell's prescience and vision led him to found the Port Security Caucus, long before it was popularly known that porous borders and insecure ports of entry constitute a terrifying national security risk. Recognising that his district, the former Texas 25th, was a diverse district, Congressman Bell made every effort possible to be available to his constituents and to address their wide variety of concerns. I remember seeing him at the Mahatma Gandhi Community Centre in 2004, addressing the audience about the richness of America's melting pot. I remember scanning Yahoo! News and seeing stories about Congressman Bell taking a Congressional junket to Mumbai, as part of the Congressional India Caucus.

His legacy as a Congressman was a committment to national security, diplomacy, peace-building, international development, civil rights and most importantly, ethical and transparent government. It's impossible to pigeonhole his ideological beliefs simply because of the fact that he's above that. When Bell discusses issues and their solutions, he's truly discussing issues and their solutions, and partisan gamesmanship has nothing to do with it. Although Washington and Austin may be more polarized than ever before, the rest of the country isn't. Most of us are more interested in solutions than we are in smashing the opposition, and it is we who should elect Chris Bell to represent us. The initial seeds that began so long ago in Houston have now grown into what Congressman Bell calls The New Mainstream.

The New Mainstream is comprised of people who think that when there are complex problems, we have to innovate, make tough decisions and be willing to go beyond the politics of soundbytes. The New Mainstream is about using issues as a way of bringing people together rather than keeping them apart. Very few things in politics have a black and white answer, and those usually involve body-counts. If we want to solve a problem, rather than keeping it alive for political gain, we have to be able to cross the aisles and work together. The New Mainstream is about recognising what we've done til now that's good, keeping it, discarding what hasn't worked, and being willing to move towards new ideas.

The New Mainstream is reform in the truest sense of the word: it's about redrawing lines to include rather than exclude.

Desis For Texas is proud to endorse a man of Chris Bell's vision, character, integrity and commitment to service. We've seen his dedication to his constituents in the past, and know that he'll bring that regard to the entire state as Governor. We are happy to be part of The New Mainstream.

Dheeraj

Ship of Fools

2005-08-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

The capture and transport of slaves from Africa to America has been catalogued in numerous books, films, television shows (Roots is one of the more memorable examples). Similar acts of brutality occurred before and since the famed triangular trade route surfaced between Europe, western Africa, and the newly formed colonies in the Americas. Besides being captured, many Africans were simply given away as slaves by their kings in return for goods such as beads, shells, textiles, brandy, horses, and guns. Contemporary American politicians have played the race card from time to time to differing effects. The concept of reparations has haunted generations of African-Americans after the failure of "40 acres and a mule" to help their community rise above the degradations imposed upon them by simply evil men - white or black, as seen by the antecedents of the slave trade. Africans had been traded for centuries before the triangular trade began.

None of these details substantiate the truly horrific loss of life under demeaning circumstances. Nonetheless, it is intriguing to see how the past funds our present and future, most notably in the funding of historical studies. Today's NY Times online profiles marine archaeologist Jaco Boshoff and his attempt to find the remains of a Dutch shipwreck that hosted both a slave mutiny and their eventual capture. Much of the ship's tempestous journey has been well-documented, in letters and court archives, and is now stored in Cape Town, South Africa. In a nutshell: the Dutch East India company sent the Meermin to Madagascar in search of slaves for its burgeoning new settlement at Cape Town. On the way back, half of the 147 slaves - including women and children - rebelled against their captors and attempted to steer the ship back. Both slaves and captors utilized cunning and skill in getting their way. Whereas the slaves were able to mutiny after being assigned to the menial task of cleaning spears, the crew members fought back by stealthily guiding the ship to what the slaves thought was Madagascar. Meanwhile, officials in Cape Town became suspicious after sighting a still-born ship without a flag, and readied their arms for mutinous slaves. Total casualties amounted to nearly 60 dead Dutchmen and dozens of slaves drowned, shot, or chained to bondage.

Artifacts of the tumultuous trip include bayonets, pistols, ropes, and compasses. The Meermin's fate was less fortunate, left to drown out in the sand at the mouth of the Heuningries River. This is now the site of Boshoff's current search. Shackles, spears, and other remnants of the prison-like conditions on ship would point him towards the bounty of all treasure-troves: the last remaining wreck of the Meermin. While the majority of Boshoff's funding has yet to be secured, aptly named mining conglormerate Anglo-American has given him a $40,000 magnetometer and a field assistant to help him during the search. Even more intriguing is the Dutch government, who will gladly donate should Boshoff find actual pieces of the wreck.

I am hesitant to continue the expository tone of this piece. It ignores the human toll coldly acknowledged as collateral damage in the midst of terrible times. The birth of new countries is rife with convoluted tales and stories with grizzly ends that the slaves and crew members met. Projects such as Boshoff's shed another light on the story, and it's the responsibility of both him and his funders to insure that the wreck is salvaged without too much pomp and circumstance, but rather, with the slow, solemn mourning that should have accompanied its demise.

Looking for something awesome?

2005-08-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, so if you're looking for some awesome reading material and you don't want to pay too much, I recommend that you take a look at DJR Marketing. Dan Eaton has managed to find some pretty rare books for me without breaking my bank or my heart.

Drop him an email and tell him what you need. The rest is pure magic.

Dheeraj

The Best Personal Ads EVER.

2005-08-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Who has a Friendster profile? Who has a MySpace account? Signed up for Mera Pyar? Admit it. We all live in America. EVERYONE uses personal ads, or at least reads them. You know that you do.

Some of us, though, in addition to reading personal ads and browsing other people's profiles (OPP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY!!), read books and magazines. And I don't mean Entertainment Weekly. Nor do I mean magazines in which such idiotic topics as distressed denim and asymmetrical shirts are discussed. Nope, gents, I don't mean magazines in which video games and nineteen year old c-list actresses are featured either. No, my friends, some have joined the ranks of the literate. Not only do we read books, but we read magazines about books, and that worse yet, sometimes feature articles about reading books. For those of you who refuse to believe that such a magazine could exist, thinking to yourselves, "Uh, who wants to read about reading?" let me introduce you to The London Review of Books. I've been a long time reader, but this morning, I was reminded by a colleague about how great their personals are.

Without further ado, then, I give you the courtship declarations of the literate.

PERSONALS

Thought for the day: ‘When there are no rights attached to language, language is theft’

Worshippers of beauty! Deity of aesthetic delight requires suitable attire! 40K needed before season ends! aesthetic_delight@hotmail.com

Wyt ti’n byw yn gogledd Cymru? Dysgu Gymraeg? Fyddet ti’n hoffi cyfarfod i diod a scwrs? 01492 531148

Living easy, living free, season ticket on a one-way ride. Highway to Dagenham with Dad-rock M (46). WLTM F to 45 who knows a mid-life crisis when she see one. Box no. 15/01

CONGRATULATIONS! You are the thousandth reader to pass this ad by. Your prize is to pay for dinner and listen to me bitch about my university colleagues until pub turfing-out time. And no, you don’t get sex. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. Sensitive F. 38. Box no. 15/02

Did you know that 82% of male LRB readers are deadly ninja assassins? I’m not one of them, however, because my Kung Fu is of an older school, whose secrets are known only to a select few. Not only can I summon chi demons with a whisper, but I also live in my parents spare room and harbour impotent revenge fantasies against my ex-wife’s lawyer. This latter move is known in ancient Kung Fu circles as ‘Mardy Locust’. Let me teach you its deadly glare. Pathetic man, 41. Harrow. Box no. 15/03

My only academic achievement was contaminating the water supply in class 2C by sneezing over the beaker tray. It caused the biggest outbreak of conjunctivitis ever known at Sutton Primary. I wasn’t sorry then and I’m not sorry now. Bitter PR exec. (F, 34). WLTM man to 40 who enjoys living on the edge (of Putney). Box no. 15/04

The LRB had promised to be a fertile field for my sociology studies. But after signing up to a year’s worth of direct debits, I find that I was wrong. You are all idiots. I hate you. Get out of my sight. Or else reply to soon-to-be-redundant sociologist (M, 53). Box no. 15/05

Suggest to me something obscure. F,37 Clapham. Box no. 15/06

‘All he needs are some psychiatric treatments to reduce the strength and regularity of his biorhythmic brain explosion episodes. For one so young, his powers of telekinesis are far beyond that of any project we’ve developed so far. His brain has the power to rule the world. It may cause you some problems at home, but the benefits of the bionic mind far outweigh the pitfalls.’ My school report, 1979 (Porton Down Preparatory School). So much promise then, look at me now. Ex-superhero, now librarian (M, 31) seeks solvent woman to 35 for scrabble, real ale, and spontaneous morphing. Wilts. Box no. 15/07

Woman, 67, seeks man, ??, to explore possibilities. She: non-academic intellectual; special interests in science and philosophy of psychology and politics. General interest in most ideas, committed egalitarian. And he? Box no. 15/08

She-wolf looking for a mate loups around. Box no. 15/09

Male, 50, would like to escort a woman to the Edinburgh Fringe and Film Festivals. Email mquille@aol.com

It's not that I don't like living with my mother; but it would be nice to meet a woman who doesn't think that subtext is what you get when you press '888' on the TV remote control. M (42), n/s. numbersgame@lycos.co.uk

Woman, 60. Fit as a fiddle, full of beans, cockeyed optimist, old soul/young at heart, clever clogs, seeks clichŽ-free relationship with intelligent, creative, vital man, still crazy after all these years. Box no. 16/01

Active, literary, 34. Seeks girl Friday 07939 666328

Must it be by burglary? Ethical rough tarte seeks age-inappropriate permanent relationship with bloke, needs: fictional qualities Prof Bhaer/M.Paul; physical energy/wit Depardieu/Auteuil/Berling; soul P. Levi; brain/humanity Wittgenstein; smallest touch Sid James/Morrissey. Definitely no faint hearts or fetishists. Small chance huh? Box no. 16/02

Don't speak, you'll only destroy my already low opinion of you. And put your pants back on. And your wig. Terminally disappointed woman (38, Barnstaple) WLTM a man. Form a queue, then I'll negotiate the criteria. Box no. 16/03

Gynotikolobomassophile (M, 43) seeks neanimorphic F to 60 to share euneirophrenia. Must enjoy pissing off librarians (and be able to provide the correct term for same). Box no. 16/04

Pimp My LRB! My subscription has chrome rims, neon waterfall lighting, and the baddest, phattest exhaust this side of Osterley. Once inside, however, it's the same old Austin Maxi it's always been - unpredictable, sticky brake pedal, worn clutch, and chipped walnut veneer dash. M, 51, wants woman with a scooter. May accept all-zone train pass as long as you don't mind me stopping off at the Well-Man clinic along the way (first Tuesday of every month). Box no. 16/05

Jarns, nittles, grawlix and quimp! This column gets more profane with every issue. Straight-laced, blue-stockinged F seeks to establish higher standard with well-heeled gentleman to 60 with some degree of euphemistic dexterity when the moment demands it, and a liberal application of silence when it doesn't. We sleep in separate rooms and never share a towel at box no. 16/06

In June, 2001, Laura Buxton released a balloon during her grandparents' gold wedding anniversary celebrations in Staffordshire. She'd attached to it her name and address along with a note asking the finder to write back. Ten days later she received a reply. The balloon had been found by another Laura Buxton in Wiltshire, 140 miles away. Both Laura's were aged 10 and both had three-year old black Labradors, a guinea pig and a rabbit. The replies to my personal ads are of a very similar nature, always coming from people who share my name and major characteristics of my life. The only distinction is that my replies do actually come from me. It's not because I have a poor memory and respond to adverts I don't remember placing, but because I'm so damned attractive I find me irresistible. You will too, but if you don't own a three-year old black Labrador, a guinea pig and a rabbit I won't reply. Man. Gorgeous man. 37. Lovely. Kettering. Adorable. Yummy. Reply soon. Of course I will, you silly little pussycat. Box no. 16/07

American man, 57. I just want a girlfriend. What the hell is going on here? Box no. 16/08

Not allowed to compete in the 2004 RoboCup Robot Soccer World Cup with his team of bionically improved cats, computer geek and amateur bio-mechanic (M, 32) seeks woman to 30 with knowledge of advanced humanoid circuit systems to assist in the building of electronic water-loving mammal capable of writing children's fantasy fiction (or The RobOtter Potter-Jotter¨ , to use the project's full name). Must also have large bust. No loons. Box no. 16/09

September 5 is the anniversary of my divorce. So too is November 17, January 12, March 8 and June 21. Summer is usually much quieter - take advantage of the sunshine and lawyers' vacation periods by dating impatient, money-grabbing PR senior (F, 39). Box no. 16/10

Boanthropist (M. 34) seeks bovine woman with udders and bell. Box no. 16/11

Why expanding the vote is a good thing, part two.

2005-08-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

Good morning, dear readers. I hope that both of you had a good night's rest.

Yesterday, I began a long post discussing the benefits of including more blocs of people in the electoral process, you can just scroll on down and find that at your leisure. It's called Why expanding the vote is a good thing, part one, surprisingly enough. Yes, my friends, this consumer of exquisite neckties is gifted not only with the charm of the devil and the looks of a Bollywood film star (according to his devoted mother), but with an imagination and flair for composition unrivalled by anyone except for, well, everyone. Yes, I completely suck when it comes to coming up with titles for these posts. Sorry. Perhaps if I were to come up with better titles, you'd be more likely to read. Well, at the very least, if I quit this rambling, you're liable to continue reading, so let's get back to it.

We left off discussing the infamous Moynihan Report, in which Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then Asst. Secretary of Labor For Policy, discussed the differences between normal poverty and black poverty, and why standard-issue poverty combatting techniques were not liable to be entirely successful in the black community. There's really no way to summarise his findings without doing tremendous intellectual damage to what he had to say, but essentially, Moynihan's claim was that centuries of having their cultural institutions, such as families, religions and schools, destroyed and undercut by slavery, Jim Crow laws and a federal government that was hamstrung by racist Southern Democrats had created a situation where it wasn't enough to merely try and place people in jobs, as the very fabric that held their society together was falling to pieces. In fact, argued Moynihan, without comprehensive efforts to revitalise their institutions and re-engage them with society at large, any attempts at alleviating poverty were doomed to end disastrously.

We are living in a world today where what I call the Moynihan nightmare is more applicable to ethnic minorities than I think even he envisioned. A quick survey of popular music and culture shows that more and more people are starting to feel completely disengaged from the political process, as if their votes don't matter, and that the only viable political action is through violent revolution. So although I don't really care for the self-styled visionaries of the hiphop community in general, who in my opinion, are nothing more than over-indulged and melodramatic panjandrums, I must say that in the case of Puffy's Vote or Die! coalition that I absolutely endorse and support these efforts.

Any attempt to persuade someone must be made on the terms of he who is to be persuaded. You must show him how whatever it is that you're trying to show him is what he really knows and wants, and you have to do so in terms of his own framework. So while some may consider such efforts to be tacky or think that by making voter registration a part of a club night, the dignity of the process is decreased, I say that Puffy et al. are seeking out these alienated youth and working with them on their own terms. By reaching out to a generation of people who are weaned on lingering nostalgia for groups like The Weathermen, The Latter Day Zapatistasa and other such groups, we take a group of people who have never been raised with any sense of civic obligation or loyalty to the system of law and order that we take for granted and bring them into a full world of civic life which they've never had a part of. From the perspective of liberal political philosophy, the legitimacy of a government is measured by the consent of the governed. The consent of the governed is measured by participation in the government and its institutions. Without the consent of the governed, we are at risk of a breakdown of law and order, and a premature end to the grand experiment in liberty that is the American Republic.
An even more horrifying thought is that if the current generation of politically disengaged youth never acquire the lifestyle of civic participation, their children never will, either, and so we begin the long downward spiral to chaos.

Desis For Texas is proud to be involved in outreach to young voters. We've held parties at The Hookup Lounge, appeared on Generasian Radio and are constantly on the lookout for more ways to get the youth involved.

If you have any ideas, as always, drop us a line.

Dheeraj

Platinum ballin'

2005-08-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hey, so we have a new ally! Dhol Beat, International, a crew of amazingly talented DJ's, musicians, promoters and hellaciously gorgeous and stylish Indian guys are the latest group to get listed on the bottom right hand side of our blog page.

DBI will rock your world. They will rock your world like no one else. They will bring the bootyquake. Beware.

Dheeraj

Our guys in the news....

2005-08-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

So until we get some more candidates endorsed, this should probably read, "Our Gal in The News," as we only have one candidate to date, but what the heck? Soon enough, we'll have some male candidates.

Austin City Council: Our gal Jennifer Kim continues to stir things up on the Austin City Council with her negotiating tactics to reduce rates in Austin and force efficiency and innovation in City Government.

That's about it. Got a candidate you want us to take a look at? Interested in being a candidate? Tell us.

Dheeraj

Why expanding the vote is a good thing, Part One.

2005-08-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

I will admit that I am an avid fan of The West Wing. I will go so far as to say that it's my favourite television drama. I will even admit that I am known to nick fantastic lines from it and use them in daily conversation, and if no one who happens to be around catches me, I'm content to let them think that I'm that witty. One of the great lines that I like is in season four, where, discussing the upcoming election and the viability of new voters coming out for a third party candidate, Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman asks why we should bother striving to reach out to people who are "...so howl-at-the-moon crazy" that they "...don't even show up to raise their hands" every two years. I shared this opinion for quite a while. To me, the notion of not voting was so idiotic that it seemed to function as a sort of competence and literacy test in American society: anyone who didn't vote was probably stupid enough that he didn't deserve to vote anyway, and we all benefit from the fact that this person has chosen not to exercise his civil right to guide the course of our government.

I have completely abandoned that stance.

Let me repeat that, with some typographic emphasis in the form of bold print.

I have completely abandoned that stance.

British historian Paul Johnson, in his History of The American People notes the unique genius of our seventh president, Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson. Now, Andy's a controversial guy, as are most American Presidents, with today's public. No one is terribly pleased with his actions towards Native Americans, telling off the Supreme Court or his quixotic stance on exactly what version of the Constitution executive branch members were required to enforce, but his vision of expanding suffrage was one of the greatest accomplishments of the nineteenth century, setting the tone for the rest of the American experiment.

Old Hickory saw a Senate and House running wild, a party machine that was virtually negotiating the placement of candidates in office rather than standing them for election and the subsequent abuse of local, state and federal governmental monies that resulted from this, the apotheosis of which was The National Bank. Jackson realised that this was only able to occur because candidates were not directly accountable to a large amount of people, and that as a result, they were able to hold any number of radical opinions and take increasingly unconstitutional action.

This is the critical principle: the more people to whom an elected official feels accountable, the less likely he is to upset his coalition of voters, and the more conservative in governing he's liable to be. A large electorate of diverse voting blocs prevents radical governing from the legislature and forces moderation, leading to the organic change so dearly beloved by this Burkean conservative blogger. There is no more effective way to keep the governments from abusing their powers and expanding their portfolios than to make it difficult for them to get elected and to make every decision that they make politically dangerous to some degree. Moreover, increasing the number of voting blocs decreases the importance of each bloc, such that a legislator is free to vote his conscience without having to worry about whether or not making what he deems to be the right decision will anger the few people who bother to vote. If every vote angers someone, then he's free to do what he wants. Finally, including more people in the political process re-engages the ultimate source of governmental authority: the people. The more people who are scrutinising every action of our elected officials, the less likely they are to be able to engage in the winner-take-all corruption that characterised party machine politics.

Now, then, what are we to make of the efforts to recruit youth voters undertaken by the various purveyors of pop culture? I must say that I am not terribly fond of the melodrama associated with the bloviations of Sean John Combs, but I will say that his efforts to include the black youth are uniquely valuable. I think that one of the most terrifying things about the generation of people to which I belong is the incredible political apathy all around me. It's even worse in the black community - we are living the unfolding of the nightmare scenario described by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, where entire generations of black Americans grow up feeling no involvement or connexion to the American government and society. Re-enagaging the youth vote is not only good for the Republic in the abstract, but in the particular case.

To be continued upon the morrow!

Dheeraj

Happy Rakhi!

2005-08-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hey, to all brothers and sisters, HAVE A BRILLIANT RAKHI!!!

Jokes of The Week

2005-08-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

What is the national bird of Khalistan?

Tandoori chicken.

Jim the Baker went to Floyd the Barber to get a haircut. When the haircut was done, Jim asks Floyd, "How much?"

"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"This is my gift to you."
"Thanks, man."

The next morning, when Floyd the Barber gets to his shop, you know what's waiting for him?

A dozen loaves of gourmet breads.

Rosa the Florist goes to Floyd the Barber for a haircut. When the haircut was done, Rosa asks Floyd, "How much?"

"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"This is my gift to you."
"Thanks, man."

The next morning, when Floyd the Barber gets to his shop, you know what's waiting for him?

A dozen roses.

Dharmesh goes to Floyd the Barber for a haircut. When the haircut was done, Rosa asks Floyd, "How much?"

"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"This is my gift to you."
"Thanks, man."

The next morning, when Floyd the Barber gets to his shop, you know what's waiting for him?

A dozen desis.

WOKKA WOKKA WOKKA! That's all folks! Thanks for paying attention! :)

Dheeraj

Hello, Friends.

2005-08-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Dheeraj asked me to be a tech writer for this blog. This is my first post. Here's some info about me: I'm male, a software developer, a musician, Jain, and Gujarati (in that order). I lean left, politically.

There's an intersection between tech and political issues. It's important to maintain perspective -- cutting-edge science has a way of raising ethics questions. Our great questions will be raised by genetics, peer-to-peer, and other such research. Our answers will be our legacy.

Well, that's it for now. I hope you'll enjoy reading my posts as much as I'll enjoy writing them.

Raj

I'll leave you with some food for thought. Every hard drive I've bought has been bigger than every previous hard drive I've bought combined. (40 MB, 200 MB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 20 GB.) There's something going on...

Hey, hey, ho ho, if they don't look like us, they've got to go!

2005-08-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

I have restrained for a while from writing about The Minutemen, their followers and their supporters. The reason that I was hesitant to write about them is that there doesn't seem to be much intellectual subtlety in the discussions about them, legal immigration, illegal immigration and the nature of a federalist government.

Let's start from the very beginning. Any discussion of the issue of immigration that deals with legal and illegal immigration as if they were same thing is idiotic and not worth having. That person who conducts the conversation on that terms is nothing more than a nativist jingoist, quite probably with a healthy stripe of racism. His concern isn't that our borders our porous and that there are entailed national security risks. His concern is that there are people who don't look like him, who worship differently, speak different languages and eat different foods than he does. Although he may not necessarily look like this guy, he's certainly of the same intellectual caliber. This guy's concern is that these strangers who are coming here may dilute his Anglo-American Christian culture. Isn't it funny how the most violent defenders of a culture are generally its worst representatives? Our friends in The Minutemen most certainly have not struggled with Latin, Greek, French and German, wrapping their minds around the great problems of Western History, Literature and Philosophy. They most certainly have not practiced their instruments for hours per diem, hoping to give life to the compositions of Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart. No, my friends, this variety of person is your classic 100% bona fide , grade A moron. I'm sure that the very people who do actually partake of this Western culture that he purports to love so much would be called "..latte sippin', Jew York Times [sic] readin' tax and spend liberals, uppity sons of bitches." If you're starting to get a picture of the type of fellow that our protagonist is, sixty years ago, he would have belonged to the John Birch Society and screamed about fluoride.

Now, it's easy to try and reduce people who complain about porous borders to the caricature mentioned above. A lot of people do. I think that that's just as stupid. In point of fact, calling people who are concerned about porous borders and illegal immigration racists, bigots, xenophobic or stupid is about as ridiculous as calling people who oppose the war in Iraq traitors. Our federal government has a ridiculously lax policy of enforcing our borders with both Canada and Mexico, which is a huge national security risk. Anyone can get through.

Now, a lot of people who live in border states find that their ranching properties are destroyed and vandalized by troupes of illegal immigrants and border crossers. These people form the core of the people calling for reform of the border policy. Our federal government, choosing to fund other things, currently underfunds the U.S. Border Patrol, no matter what reforms were made in the name of homeland security. The burden of manning these borders falls to the states and the cities in one the largest and most unfair unfunded mandates in American history. City and state governments cannot afford to do this. Their budgets are already overstretched, and so nothing gets done. People have a right to be pretty pissed off.

The problem is, though, that these illegal immigrants are the ones who are punished. Laws are constantly proposed to deny them drivers licenses, for example, which only makes it harder to track them. Symbollically punishing illegal immigrants is not going to stem the tide of immigration. Neither is racially profiling people and demanding that they prove that they are American residents to citizen militias going to work. It will make things harder for them, but because the situation in Mexico is exponentially worse for them, the risk is still worth it, especially with open borders.

The illegal immigrants themselves don't exactly arrive in America to find the pot of gold that they were dreaming of. No one comes here illegally from Mexico and immediately takes a six-figure job as CEO of Disney. These people come here and wind up working in the most menial, backbreaking jobs possible. Do you like that low cost produce? It's cheap because some farmer or rancher didn't have to pay the legally mandated wage to legal residents or citizens, and instead, set up a bunch of illegal immigrants in virtual slave camps to generate a bigger profit. Isn't it nice to have contacting crews who'll build you a new deck for your backyard at an outrageously low price? That price is low because these people work for cash only, and people know that they can pay them less, as taking a cheque would force immigrants to open a bank account, and risk being forced to prove their immigration status.

And yet, no matter how bad things are for them here, things are even worse in Mexico. The very NAFTA that was supposed to raise Mexico's economy and standard of living isn't exactly working out, and in fact, can be said to be making things worse. Because of U.S. agricultural subsidies, we get to dump zero-cost agriculture on Mexico in a process that I call ag-bombing. This destroys their indigenous agriculture, forcing people to go to the cities. Of course, with not enough jobs in the cities to begin with, people become more and more desperate to find some way to get over here. This is a problem that can definitely be said to be made and exacerbated by the United States federal government.

Of course, the various agricultural lobbies and business lobbies are deadly opposed to any kind of funding for policing the border or cracking down on illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are a cheap source of labour for them. No matter how much money the unions contribute to campaigns, corporate lobbies give more. They've bought themselves a House of Representatives that ensures that the border remains unpoliced.

The solution to this problem is not to beat up on the immigrants who come here and enrich our economy, albeit, through cheap labour. The solution is to beat up on the businesses who employ them. The solution is not to cut federal funds to cities and states who refuse to accept the politically motivated unfunded mandate that the federal government hands to them. The solution is to beat up on the President, House and Senate who are so in bed with corporate monies that they refuse to police the border. The solution is to beat up on the businesses who hire illegal aliens. The solution is to beat up on the government of Mexico, who do nothing on their end to solve the problem, and instead, exacerbate it by publishing guides for illegals.

Citizen militias, while an expression of a righteous grievance against the federal government, would do better to channel their rage into a political action committee that spends millions on issue-ads on the subject, calling for the government to go after the businesses, the government of Mexico and the lobbies.

More on this as we develop our position.

Dheeraj

Housekeeping

2005-08-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello, hello, dear readers! Both of you are very important to TEAM BLOGGO here at Desis For Texas, and we are doing our best to make this blog experience as rewarding for you as possible.

Since the re-launch, we've been working on a few different topics, and we've started to tentatively work out a schedule and portfolio of topics for different bloggers.

Staff Bloggers:

Dheeraj will be covering endorsements, press releases, our candidates and whatever topics happen to strike his fancy. So far, Dheeraj has written on intelligent design, missile testing and the immigrant experience. Expect two posts per diem.

Jon will be covering similar topics, concentrating more on state and local politics as they affect the interests of the desi community. Expect two to three posts per week.

Guest Bloggers:

Mimosa will be writing about international politics, women's issues and whatever bits of whimsy strike her mind. Expect no more than three per week from her.

Raj will be writing a weekly column on issues pertaining to science, technology, computer science and maths. He is bloody brilliant.

Okay, so it looks like we've got a weekly schedule that's going to develop.

Monday: Our Guys in The News, Mimsy's Whimsies
Tuesday: Dheeraj's random bits
Wednesday: Mimsy's Whimsies,: Dheeraj's random bits
Thursday: Dheeraj's random bits, Film, Television and Book Reviews (TENTATIVE!)
Friday: Mimsy's Whimsies, Raj's column, Jokes of The Week, Dheeraj's random bits.

We are currently working to bring you film reviews from an old friend of mine, a non-Texan, if you can imagine that, but let's see how that works out.

Posts from Jon will be scattered through the week.

Enjoy reading, guys! If you have any ideas on what we can do and should do, please drop us an email!!.

Dheeraj

And, it's done.

2005-08-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

When The Onion begins covering you, you know that you're done.

Goodbye, Intelligent Design.

Dheeraj

Another silly theory surgically dismembered.

2005-08-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Following the whole discussion on Intelligent Design, which is quite possibly the stupidest pseudoscientific theory since phrenology, I thought that it may be time to beat up a bit on the pseudoscientific left as well. After all, the religious right, while incredibly stupid and annoying, are way too easy and obvious a target, while the pseudoscientific left often get a free pass to continue bloviating.

What is the pseudoscientific left, then? The pseudoscientific left is that group of leftists who attempt to justify their leftist politics by appeals to empirical science and its methodology. Why is this problematic? Empirical science can only properly answer questions that are in some way connected to empirical events, and that can be demonstrated to be either true or false under carefully defined conditions. What is the textbook example of the pseudoscientific left? Keeping with the spirit of Sir Karl Popper, we can cite Marxism and psychoanalysis as the two definitive examples of pseudoscientific leftism.

Of course, the advocates of pseudoscientific leftism have moved well beyond trying to claim, as a matter of empirical science, that the dictatorship of the proletariat is inevitable, or that Kaiser Wilhelm staged his assault on Europe to take revenge on his father for having sex with his mother, or my personal favourite one, that the Unitd States federal government is insecure about the size of its metaphorical penis, as we can see in the despair over missile gaps during the cold war. (In addition to being flatly unverifiable and unscientific, these statements are just stupid.) They have begun to speak the language of "social science," trying to find some grounding for their beliefs outside of political philosophy and ethics.

The most egregious crimes against thought occur from perpetrators of evolutionary psychology. In a nutshell, this theory posits that all functions of the human mind can be explained in terms of serving some evolutionary function. The problem with this is that the answer is so vague that it can justify just about anything. And of course, it is used to justify just about anything. At this point, it is important to make a distinction. There are those thinkers like Stephen Pinker who postulate evolution as a mechanism for understanding the general structures and functions of the mind, who conduct reasonable science. And then, there are the ideologues.

As the Sokal Affair showed, there are any number of weirdos out there who try to read their political beliefs into natural science, and that we can almost always expect them to be from the postmodern left. The eruptions of idiocy occur when ideologues attempt to take evolutionary pschology and use it to determine micro-causality of specific actions by specific people, rather than providing general explanations of the human mind. A perfect example of this over-determining of evolutionary psychology occurs when radical feminists attempt to claim that men's minds are hard-wired to commit rape.

You would think that this is a joke. One would hope that this is a joke. But it's not. Any number of prominent feminists, like Andrea Dworkin, argued that men are biologically hardwired towards rape. These theories not only get discussed in college classes, but in 1994, actually got codified into law in the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

So really, which group is worse, those who deny the validity of empirical science, or those who abuse it? I'm not entirely sure, but I know that both need to be taken out. The only people creepier than snake-handling religious nuts are those people who claim that we have an anti-serpentine module built into our minds because of the patriarchy.

Dheeraj

Existential questions, apparently.

2005-08-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

There is one stereotypical behaviour that I have never encountered in my friends, and that is accepting idea that our compatibility can be determined by any number of multiple choice questions on inane subjects from magazines like Maxim or Cosmo and subsequently foisting these quizzes on people. I have never had anyone tell me that we have to break up because I am a broccoli and she is a zucchini. I have never had anyone worry that our AOL Instant Messenger use of emoticons bespeaks different outlooks on life. I have never had anyone worry about what it means that I periodically part my hair in the centre and periodically on the right.

However, when it comes to the truly great existential questions, the ones that would make fruitcakes like J.P. Sartre ponder the meaning of nothingness while denying the existence of the gulags, there is absolutely nothing that people like more than 'blog quizzes. Now, as a neophyte in the world of 'blogging, I will admit that I'm not entirely familiar with the mannerisms and mores, but I will say that people who are otherwise entirely reasonable wind up putting the most idiotic quiz results all over their pages. How many pages have you run across that say something like this:

She left me this morning. She didn't even wait til I had my coffee. She just said that it was over, she was sorry and that it was better this way. I went to go brush my teeth. I noticed that she took the toothpaste. That was just mean. She already took my heart. Did she have to take my toothpaste? OH, BY THE WAY, I'M SCARY SPICE! YAY!

It's bad enough that the internet has become a forum for people to air feelings that were once kept completely private out of embarassment, but to think that this is somehow augmented by finding out which Spice Girl you would be by answering questions about which is your favourite M&M colour is idiotic.

That being said, a friend of mine sent me a quiz that I found to be the ne plus ultra of internet quizzes: a political profile quiz. In less than twelve questions, none of which are at all subtly phrased or which allow subtle answers,
this quiz can determine that one is either conservative or liberal. Whoo-hoo. I will admit that I fell for this temptation.

Your Political Profile

Overall: 45% Conservative, 55% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

Apparently, even though I am one of the most opinionated people on the planet, this quiz was able to label me as a moderate. What a complete waste of time.

Dheeraj

Delicious Cocktail

2005-08-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

I must say that I wholeheartedly endorse Campari. It is by far one of the most luscious liqueurs that I've ever had. It's made from citrus fruits, herbs and spices, and is low in alcoholic content. Campari is generally served with soda and rind of lemon.

Do enjoy these recipes.

Dheeraj

As surprising as this may be...

2005-08-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

As surprising as this may be, dear, faithful readers of this weblog, not only am I citing another story from The New Republic, but I am once again doing so to comment on the whole Intelligent Design controversy. Ross Douthat warns that even though it's completely obvious that this whole controversy is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot, a bone thrown to his religious right base by George W. Bush, the opposition should be wary about how they politicise this. There is a reason that bioethics is a tricky, tricky field with quite a bit of ambiguity and grey areas.

The religious right are playing this game as a trap, in the opinion of this Banana Republic addicted blogger. If they can entice the opposition into defending the position that science must be one hundred percent independent of all so-called moral influences and must be free to proceed on its own terms, they have won, because the tide will turn on the bewildered and beleaguered defenders of empirical science.

"In what possible way," both of you who read this are asking, "could the religious right win this war in the minds of voters? THEY ARE STUPID." This is the opposition's mistake. The yahoos are playing this issue as if there is a purely binary opposition between science and morality, and that we can only have one or the other. The opposition should not exclusively rely on invoking Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galielei and, well, free thinking. After all, as I mentioned earlier, there are very few things that are clearly defined in bioethics, and if the scientific community sacrifices their claim to taking a moral stance, they will be surprised to find how quickly the tide will turn against them.

The distinction that needs to happen is between a secular ethics and the ethics of their revealed religion. There needs to be a clear line indicating that there is a system of ethics that justifies secular beliefs and science, and that it is parallel to, but not derived from religion. After all, if Dobson et al. are allowed to define the terms of morality, they will win, how much longer will it be before they can inflict their views of society on America?

Dheeraj

New Team Member

2005-08-15T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well....Our beloved Mistress of Whimsy and Wonder, Ms. Mimosa Roy, has decided to resume her role as Queen of the DFT Blog.
Mimosa will be covering international news and developments, primarily, as well as women's issues foreign and domestic. She will also be posting whatever marvels and delights happen to cross her mind. Yay! Also, keep in mind that while she is a blogosphere celebrity, Mimosa is not an employee of Desis For Texas, and merely a guest commentator. Her views may from time to time depart from those of the PAC proper, but we are open-minded enough and happy to disagree, since the benefit of her presence completely outweighs our minor policy disagreements.

Without further ado, MIMOSA!!!!!

Dheeraj

A vicious crime.

2005-08-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Given the recency of the tragic murder of Akhil Chopra, this Houstonian feels it is in bad taste for Desis For Texas to immediately put out a press statement.

Please allow the family to grieve, and rest assured that political action is in the works.

Dheeraj

Terrain of the new blog

2005-08-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hello again, intrepid readers.

Last week saw the resurrection of the Desis For Texas blog. I announced a bit of housecleaning, and so I want to make clear to you what's going on here. This blog will now profile candidates whom we've endorsed twice per week, feature topical jokes on Fridays and comment on all things political elsewise. All endorsement statements, position papers and announcements will debut here. Also, look for cocktail recipes, food recipes and other such things as they enter the mind of the blogging team.

Speaking of TEAM BLOGGO, I shall be primarily covering the candidates, international news and things that are my particular bones to pick. We could use more people and more exposure, so if you think that you can help, email me.

Dheeraj

"Make new friends, but keep the old! One is silver and the other's gold!"

2005-08-15T05:58:00.000-07:00

As humourous as this next phrase is, my sister was once a Brownie. Yes, I realise that that's funny. Get your Monday morning laughs in, people, but do try not to snort coffee through your nostrils. I can tell you that that's an exceptionally painful thing to experence, having done it several times too many for either my comfort or my sustained dignity. In any event, when my sister was a Brownie, they sang this song called Make New Friends at the beginning and end of every meeting. It's astounding how relevant this song is to the issue of nuclear proliferation on the Indian subcontinent, but how astoundingly wrong the sentiment is in this situation.

We all know that the United States and India have had a troubled relationship, for no really good reason, either. The United States, determined to hold off the spectre of communism, was absolutely furious with India for joining the Non-Aligned Movement after acheiving independence. India, determined to develop their own identity, economy and politics after hundreds of years of foreign rule and occupation, wanted to just stay out of the great showdowns between the USSR, The United States and China. Of course, this was disadvantageous to both countries. India, a country characterised by rule of law, stable and fluid social hierarchies and secular government, found itself tacking against the United States, which shared all the same characteristics. The United States, who were rightfully convinced that in ninety percent of the cases, any government that described itself as "socialist" was a Communist sympathizer, if not ripe for falling victim to Communism, saw the government of India's refusal to join in the Cold War as an extension of their post-colonial rage towards all things Occidental, and furthermore, a force that would drive them into the Soviet embrace.

It's amazing how this became a self-fulfilling prophecy simply due to the short-sightedness of the parties involved. India is the only country in the region to maintain The British Common Law and a functional democratic government. The United States was the only power in the world that still maintained a foreign policy based on moral precepts, and the only country that had the economic power to help India develop quickly. Instead, the India wound up working in limited partnerships with the Soviet Union and the United States wound up working with Pakistan and Afghanistan, two countries whom we know are characterised neither by stability nor by rule of law. This adversarial stance between the nations of my identity continued well into the post-Cold War era, even influencing the presidency of this hirsute blogger's beloved William Jefferson Clinton.

And yet, now, we stand on the threshold of a change. The economic ties between India and The United States began to intensify during the presidency of this caffeine-addicted, unibrowed blogger's beloved William Jefferson Clinton such that even when India tested a nuclear weapon, complete disengagement and divestment was impossible. Robert Blackwill, the Clinton appointed amabassador to India, argued unsuccessfully to the administration that India was no longer, if they had indeed ever been, a danger to the United States, and that it was time for a sea change. Alas, not even Al Gore was able to make Bill see the light on this one, and the hostile stance continued.

George W. Bush saw things a bit differently. With his belief in the uniquely moral nature of democracies, he was already inclined towards rapprochment with India, and his belief that the business of America is business only encouraged that inclination as the economic ties deepened. Bush and Manmohan Singh enjoy the best relationship that an American leader and an Indian leader have ever enjoyed, period. Both are leading their countries away from the purely adversarial stances that they once held towards each other without sacrificing their moral principles. Bush recognises that proliferation, either horizontal or vertical, isn't always a bad thing, especially when the weapons are proliferated to allies. Is anyone sleeping less well because of the thought of a British bomb? How about a French one? Wow, that Jacques Chirac is a timebomb. God only knows what will set him off.

By going nuclear, and yet submitting toIAEA standards and checks on further proliferation, the government of India is now poised to be the stable democratic and nuclear ally of the United States in a region that has three independent scenarios for regional war. It's about time, too. Now that the three major powers in the region, India, Pakistan and China, are nuclear, the chances that they'll go to war with other again are incredibly diminished. No two nations armed with nuclear weapons have ever fought each other in a war. Let's hope that that continues.

Let us hope that in the developing relationships, the United States is able to push India into final status negotiations for the borders with China and for a quick reconciliation to the Jammu/Kashmir conflict. Let us hope that the government of India is able to bring the United States into a foreign policy that is characterised by use of institutions and diplomacy as well as being less subject to well-founded accusations of hypocrisy.

Dheeraj

Follow up to William Jennings Bryan's losing war....

2005-08-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

This blog is almost going to seem like an advert for The New Republic, but I thought that I had to follow up with this story. Leon Wieseltier continues the surgical disintegration of intelligent design propaganda at their website today.

You almost feel bad for these people til you remember that they're the sort who like government to be too small to help poor people, but just small enough to fit into everyone's bedroom. ;)

Dheeraj

Jokes of The Week

2005-08-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

The first desi is being inaugurated as President of The United States of America. His mother is so proud. She nudges the guy sitting next to her and asks, "Hey, do you see that guy with his hand on the Bible?" The guy, shocked, responds, "Yes, of course." "Well, his brother is a doctor."

For all you Hindi speakers out there....

What did one banana say to the other?

Marry me, I'm a kela.

Yes, yes, yes, thank you...Please, don't worry about me. I can afford to buy my own produce, so you can keep your tomatos. :)

Dheeraj

Come, sit, drink chai and relax, S. Asian Americans....

2005-08-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

The New Republic, which this goofy Indian with his perpetual five o'clock shadow and known weakness for strong coffee must confess is his favourite news magazine, features an interesting, timely and germane article on the political situation of desis in 2005.

We have been coming here since the nineteenth century, originally, as labourers from The British Empire, and then, in the 1950's, as skilled immigrants. We have been working hard to establish ourselves, largely keeping out of the radar, fearing backlash and resentment against immigrants. Does this story sound familiar? It should. It's the classic story of every major ethnic or religious immigrant group to the United State of America. Whether it's the Irish, Italians, Germans, Eastern European Jews, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans etc., we've all followed the same pattern of arriving here, clustering in ethnic communities and building ourselves into financial success and social acceptability.

Indian Americans have been so pre-occupied with achieving financial success as the means to acheiving social acceptability that we joke that there are only four acceptable careers for young adults entering college: medicine, computer science, business and natural sciences. A recent addition, of course, is law, but only because we need immigration lawyers to help get our family members here. The generation of people who emigrated to the United States is still largely incredulous of their financial and social success, which is understandable. When you leave behind a country characterised by poverty, disease and religious conflict, those experiences will always stick with you. No matter how rich someone may become, he will always remember the penury of his childhood. This has resulted in some behaviour patterns that some find humourous, but in which I see a world of pathos. How many of us have laughed at our parents, the wildly rich doctors, who go out to eat and order food based entirely upon whatever happens to be cheapest on the menu? How many of us have laughed at our aunts and uncles who will spend hours driving and quite a bit of money on gas to drive to an outlet mall to save three dollars on the cost of a shirt? Do we laugh at our grandparents, who are still shocked at the idea of spending money on disposable diapers, rather than using reusable linens at a lower cost? I will admit that I have, I do and I shall probably continue to laugh at such behaviours, but as I get older, I feel more of an empathy with these people.

And yet, now, we stand as the most wildly successful immigrant community in the history of the United States. We face certain discriminations and problems today, but compared to what Jews, Irish, Chinese and Japanese immigrants earlier in the country's history faced, these seem a bit smaller by comparison. Perhaps as immigrants we have benefitted from the march of progress creating the liberal state that we know today coinciding with the beginnings of our immigration. It is hard to imagine businesses refusing to serve desis on religious grounds, but that's what Jews experienced up until the twentieth century. If anyone reading this is from Houston, I'm sure that you're familiar with Meierland's history: a community created because no one wanted Jews as their neighbours, and so no one would sell them houses. These are things in my country's history that shame me, and yet, also inspire me. For while I am horrified by the nakedly ignorant prejudice that went into them, I see that they have been left behind, and the fact that we've moved beyond them gives me hope. Desis have acheived the same success as these other immigrant groups far more quickly than they ever did, but mostly due to the fact that we never faced the same barriers here that these other groups did.

Perhaps it is the lack of barriers that we've faced together as a community that keeps us a largely disparate group of people, unaware of our political power. We've never had to act in concert to accomplish goals that would benefit our community, and so all that we have are memories of the Quit India Movement to inspire us. It never ceases to amaze me when I come across desis who think that politics are irrelevant, or don't vote.

Desis For Texas is proud to be on the forefront of bringing these successful people and their children, with all their foibles, funny accents and knock-off perfumes and colognes, into the political process. Bravo to The New Republic for an article that brought some thoughts to this Indian's mind as he sipped his morning coffee on a Friday.

Dheeraj

William Jennings Bryan v. America, Part II, Starring G.W. Bush and several people whose mother and father are also brother and sister.

2005-08-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Pseudos means "falsehood, lie" in Ancient Greek. It's also a great word to prepend to the word "science" when you're talking about intelligent design theory. For those of you with some philosophical background, proponents of this claim are proposing nothing short of a watered down version of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. In a nutshell, the theory proposes that life and the conditions to allow it are too complex to have been the result of an entropic or random process, and that there must have been some intelligence behind manoeuvring of circumstances to allow it. Essentially it boils down to, "Wow, she's gorgeous. No one is that good looking by accident. Thank you, God, for putting that marvel of creation on the street for me to see just at this moment, according to your pre-ordained plan."

This is absurd, and has no place in the mind of any being with two opposable thumbs and walks erect, much less in empirical science, but we should really examine why this cannot be science. The two great philosophers of science in the twentieth century were Sir Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn.

Karl Popper defined empirical science as being that undertaking which proceeds by creating hypotheses that could be demonstrated to be true or false, holding on the ones demonstrated to be true til they're proven false and discarding the falsified propositions as one discards a bad habit, or a failed politician. Of course, this process of testing occurs under carefully controlled and defined circumstances, such that it's very clear why something is true or false. Now, here's a simple question. Is there any set of circumstances under which the existence of an intelligent designer can be tested? No, there really isn't. It's a belief that one holds axiomatically, and that influences how one interprets empirical data, rather than being a rational conclusion from empirical data.

Keeping Popper in mind, it is now time to turn to Thomas Kuhn. Kuhn postulated that science moves forward not merely by falsifying theories, but by overwhelming an entire paradigm, a set of assumptions and entailed problems, with newer and better explanations. Exactly how is biology advanced if we hold the conclusion that life as it is is the result of an intelligent design? What new problems of science does that open up for us? What other problems are explained. Perhaps it leads us to ask why the same designer who created namkeen lassis would create Bubonic Plague. Oh, wait, a minute. That problem already exists. It's called Theodicy, and it's usually taught in theology classes. Intelligent Design opens no new questions for science, but enlarges the arenas in which theology operates.

So it's not falsifiable and it does nothing for science. Why then are the yahoos of America clamouring to have it taught in America? Jerry Coyne writes a fantastic expose of the history of this movement, and properly locates it as nothing more than the latest expression of the brooding resentment of the fundamentalist Christian sects of America. Having been a strong force in politics from the beginning of the American colonies all the way through the nineteenth century, the humiliation that they endured at the hands of Clarence Darrow in what is now called The Scopes Monkey Trial, they largely withdrew from politics and mainstream society, only beginning to howl their century of resentment against science, secular government, integration, gender equality, civil rights, the United Nations, the New Deal, The Fair Deal, The Great Society and, well, progress, towards the end of the twentieth century, handing Ronald Reagan two wins and now two wins to George W. Bush.

Now, to be fair, the religiously motivated people of America have not always been a reactionary force. Jim Wallis, a preacher and recently famous politico, reminds in his most recent work, God's Politics:..., that for most of the nineteenth century Christians were at the forefront of the Progressive Movement, arguing for labour rights, abolition of slavery, creation of orphanages and women's services, equal rights for women, economic policies that would benefit the lower and middle classes and other such things that we simply take for granted today. No one exemplified the Christian belief in what we would today still call moral politics than William Jennings Bryan, who, indeed, served as Secretary of State. Wallis concludes that after the national humiliation that fundamentalist and evangelical Christians experienced during the The Scopes Monkey Trial at the hands of the secular left, no matter how much their views otherwise dovetailed, Christians no longer felt welcome in the politics of the left, and ran with open arms towards the right. And yet, today, we still find evangelical Christians arguing for responsible environmental policy, social welfare, moral foreign policy and access to education for all.

It's important to keep a sense of balance when thinking about what the visible section of Evangelical Christianity has become, and remember not only what they were, but that the visible section doesn't speak for everyone.

For those of you who missed it, once again, I advise you to read The New Republic's take on this issue.

Dheeraj

Another blow struck for regional security....PSYCH!

2005-08-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

I was with my friend Ted last evening, marvelling at the notion of Fox's new reality television programme, So You Think You Can Dance, and I missed the initial reporting of the missile test in Pakistan, but here we go, let's discuss why this is a bad idea.

India and Pakistan have been making pretty good progress through the last few years towards ensuring a meaningful peace. Even Kashmir was on the table for final status negotiations, even though China wasn't involved. In recent years, the governments of India and Pakistan had even developed early notification agreements for any kind of ballistic missile testing.

"Early notification? Why wouldn't this fall under that category, then?" you may be wondering, and not without good reason. The difference is really only apparent to a true geek of weapons systems, missile defense theory, international politics and other such magnificent things. Luckily, I am here. Technically, what was tested last night is not a ballistic missile, but rather, a cruise missile. A ballistic missile is exactly what its etymology would imply: a dumb missile that, once launched, cannot be controlled and just sort of moves along towards its target. Ballistic missiles are sort of the low end of the arsenal, really, perhaps analagous to the ubiquitous blue ink Bic ballpoint pens that every coach cum health teacher in middle school has in his desk. Now a cruise missile is, in the immortal words of Will Smith in Men In Black II, "the new hotness." It flies at low altitudes, so that it cannot be detected by radar as easily, can navigate, can be fitted with nuclear, biochemical or biobacteriological warheads. Continuing with the school supplies metaphor, they're the pretty awesome black ink rolling ball pens that only the honours Computer Programming teacher would keep in his desk, right next to the big bag of Twizzlers and old issues of 2600 Magazine: Very sweet stuff, but generally in the control of some pretty creepy old guys.

The other reason that this was not covered by the early notification agreements was that the test occurred on Pakistan's land holdings, which were reserved out of the agreements. Any government can legally and ethically test weapons systems on their own territorial holdings without being required or expected to notify anyone else, and if you think about it, that makes perfect sense. Had India tested a weapons system on its own territory, the story would have been reversed, and people would be blogging about India testing weapons systems without notifying Pakistan. That's an unlikely scenario, though, because India performs most of their tests in international waters, which requires quite a bit of notification and scheduling.

What motivation does Pakistan have to test a weapons system that can launch WMD-caliber warheads into the heart of India? It's really quite simple. No matter what the trajectory towards peace may be, India is a nation with whom they've gone to war three times in the last sixty years. India's economy has been on ever-upward spiral for the last several years, so they have money to spend on weapons systems, not to mention the new trilateral security arrangement between the United States, Israel and India, which will provide them with sellers all too happy to take Indian cash in exchange for advanced weaponry. Not only does India have the potential to outgun Pakistan on every possible level, but they already do. As the potential becomes actual, the arsenal gap will only get worse. The Pakistani government fears that as they become comparatively weaker and weaker, their ability to negotiate meaningful and mutually advantageous peaces with India will decline, and so they want to continue to be strong. Even though they may not have all the sophisticated weapons systems that India may acquire, they'll still be able to lob a nuclear warhead into India, and that will guarantee them a position of strength, no matter what.

Of course, their reasoning is wrong. This assumes the logic of Mutually Assured Destruction, which is quite well initialised to MAD. The way that India and Pakistan can assure meaningful peace with each other is not through constantly being able to annihilate each other, but rather, through what's called complex interdependence. Opening roads and markets to each other is the first step. Tom Friedman, the king of the banal, has a point when he says that no two countries with a McDonald's in them have ever attacked each other since acquiring the McDonald's. Arms don't stop war. Institutions do. And Pakistan's latest test has just undermined any good faith agreements that exist. It's hard to imagine the government of India thinking that it's a good idea to stand down when the government of Pakistan is still looking for ways to drop nuclear bombs on Mumbai.

Pervez Musharraf, congrats to you for giving your hardline Islamofascist minority a big win. Normalised relations with India have just been pushed back quite a bit.

Dheeraj

"It's been a while, and we shouldn't have left you..."

2005-08-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello, hello.

It's been quite a while since this blog has been updated, and there are any number of reasons for this, but let me be the first to announce that DFT is undergoing, and has been undergoing, quite a bit of reorganisation.

This blog will now primarily be written by me, and while I hope to write on serious issues, I hope to do so in a manner characterised by humour and jest. If we cannot laugh at politics, then I really don't know what is left to laugh at, unless it's our own pretensions.

If anyone is interested in getting involved, I suggest that you drop me an email.

But now, the activity resumes!

Dheeraj

Hindu Students Council to Promote Hindu Awareness

2005-05-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

One of our volunteers, Vipul, is taking a strong stand against ignorance of Hinduism in Houston! We should all encourage him!

Dheeraj

For more information: Vipul Divecha at
713-397-2373 or v.divecha@gmail.com

HINDU STUDENTS COUNCIL PLANS AWARENESS DINNER IN HOUSTON

The Hindu Students Council (HSC) will hold an awareness dinner on Friday, June 3, 2005 at the Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Houston. The dinner will provide an opportunity to the supporters of HSC, youth and elders, to come together and contribute funds to keep up the organization's activities.

In the interest of the readers, it should be mentioned that HSC is an international movement providing opportunities for college students and young professionals to learn about Hindu heritage through various activities, events and projects. Founded in 1990, HSC has grown to become the largest Hindu Youth organization outside of India, with more than 75 official chapters in North America and several inspired chapters around the world. HSC presents ample opportunities for self-development at the spiritual and professional level through campus study groups, seminars, lectures, workshops, conferences and camps.

Within last few years, HSC's activities have seen a strong upswing in Texas and more specifically, in the Houston area. The HSC chapter at the University of Houston was rejuvenated last year and has been successfully growing since then under its able leadership. A new chapter was started at Alief Taylor High School (Houston) recently. HSC has also vibrant chapters at UT-Austin, Texas A&M, and Bellaire High School (Houston). HSC plans to start two more chapters in the Houston area in the coming year. Soon, HSC will have a total of 7 chapters in Texas, 5 of them in Houston.

Achievements of HSC:

· In 2003, with the active support of Houston volunteers, HSC organized the highly acclaimed Global Dharma Conference, which was graced by over 60 spiritual speakers and 2000 participants from 15 countries. Prominent speakers included Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (President of India), H.H. Pramukh Swamiji Maharaj (BAPS), H.H. Shankaracharya (Kanchi), H.H. Dalai Lama and Dr. Deepak Chopra.

· Every year, HSC volunteers endeavor to make the Houston Janmashtami festival a great success. Behind-the-scene activities, including decorations and gathering of shoes are partly due to the initiative of HSC.

· HSC volunteers read the weekly news at the Sanatan Hindu radio program (Houston) and also do special segments from time to time.

· HSC is the only youth organization that is a member of India Culture Center (ICC), Houston.

· For the last years, on Yugadi, the first day of the Hindu calendar, HSC volunteers have performed special seva activities in the Houston area including visits to hospitals to encourage and cheer the patients.

· HSC's University of Houston chapter performed one day's seva work at the Meenakshi temple and plans to do more seva at other temples in the future.

· Every year, HSC volunteers coordinate and manage the Hindu Heritage Camp that is attended by over 160 youth from the greater Houston area.

· HSC is also working on organizing seminars on Hinduism for high school students and teachers with the help of Indic Culture and Traditions Seminar (ICATS).

General Appeal:

To educate people in general and parents of the youth in particular about its specific functions and achievements, HSC is organizing the awareness dinner on June 3 rd. This event will begin at 7 PM sharp with aarti and will include a cultural program, a vegetarian dinner, a video presentation on the activities of HSC and a special presentation by the new HSC President, Mr. Samir Rawal. The dinner will be followed by raas-garba. A general appeal is being made to interested and like-minded people, both youth and parents, to support and get involved with HSC by participating in the June 3rd awareness dinner.

Launch Party!!

2005-05-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hello, Everyone!

Thanks to everyone who attended our launch party at The Hookup Lounge!

A strong blow was struck for South Asian representation in Texas politics last Friday, and while it was happening, good food, fine hookah and great company was enjoyed by all.

We will be having many, many more events, so please do keep us bookmarked!

-dx

"Chal, vote karraingai!" - Some Aunty

2005-05-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who don't read Hindi transliterated into English, that's my impression of some Auntie-ji encouraging her children and husband to come along and vote. It literally translates to, "Come along, we'll vote!" All jokes aside, South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow has released a report that anyone who's interested in South Asian American political organising should read.

The report is entitled "The 2004 Elections: South Asian American Voting Trends and Patterns." You can find it here, and I encourage you to read it.

As can be expected, a large proportion of South Asian voters were primarily concerned with civil rights, racial profiling and hate-motivated crimes. What genuinely surprised me was the number of problems that South Asian Voters had with the actual process of voting, which only reinforces to me the necessity of the Help America Vote Act, sometimes called "HAVA." I was also astounded to see the numbers of Indo-Carribean voters who voted primarily on labour issues.

Reading this report reminded me that the South Asian community is rich in culture and diversity, and continues to defy stereotyping. Who knew that there were so many Desicrats? Special points to anyone who manages to come up with a clever way to incorporate the word desi into "Republican."

Alright, I'm out.

Dheeraj

Oh, the provocations!

2005-04-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello, readers. It's good to touch base with both of you from time to time. Hi, Mom! How are you doing?

Okay, so jokes out of the way, this is a serious post on a very serious subject that has the power to divide, but I've always been of the opinion that the best discussions are the ones in which we all disagree violently and learn from each other's points of view.

Affirmative Action. There. I said it. Those two words are probably responsible for one of the greatest divisions in desi politics. Here are two articles approaching the subject:

Against Affirmative Action and In Favour of Affirmative Action.

Let the debate ensue!!

Dheeraj Chand

Blogging, blogging, blogging away!

2005-04-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone!

It looks like the 'blog is up and running, much to my satisfaction. Our chief blogger will be the lovely and talented Mimosa Roy, who is currently involved with several projects of her own to enrich our communities.

Mimosa is currently an advocate at Apna Ghar, a battered women's shelter in Chicago, IL. She is also a brilliant writer of introspective prose, a creator of amazing mix cd's and an incredibly artistic woman.

She will be recording commentaries on news stories, putting forth a rapid response to situations as they arise and in general, writing away on all topics whimsical and provocative.

I hope that you guys all enjoy this blog!

Best wishes,

Dheeraj Chand,
President, Desis For Texas

Welcome

2005-04-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Desis For Texas blog.