by B. R. GOWANI

The mini United Nations. The four of the six children: (from left) Maddox (8) Zahara (5) Pax (6), and Shiloh Nouvel (4) with Angelina Jolie at a Japanese airport. PHOTO/Wire/Popeater

There are many good actors and actresses in the cinema world but then there are some exceptional ones who have the talent, charisma, charm, and energy to sway you completely under their spell. Angelina Jolie is one of those actresses. Her combination of femininity and masculine force (as on display in films such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Wanted, and Salt) and her outstanding performances delights her male fans and keeps her female fans exhilarated seeing one of their own as an embodiment of male/female equality.

She executes her role in her latest movie with such flair and believability that it never crosses your mind that originally the role of Salt was supposed to be played by Tom Cruise. After knowing that, a second thought to strike you is that Jolie was the right choice for that role. In the enactment of her role of an undercover CIA agent on the run, after being accused of being a Russian mole, she stays acting oriented rather than relying on the crutches of style, bravado, sex, or other gimmick; even her covering up of one of the monitor cameras with her pantie is done in a natural manner. (For some of the males watching Salt, of course, any such action is bound to create a disturbance in the hormonal level.)
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by IS’HAQ MODIBBO KAWU

But the most incredible intervention must belong to David Mark, Nigeria’s number three citizen, who wanted the kidnappers’ “law of the jungle” to be met by the state’s own law of the jungle; David Mark, an archetype of military dictatorship was actually seeking a return to impunity in dealing with kidnappings. Mark wanted a “declaration of a state of emergency” to stop kidnappings. Almost like a burlesque, but this is the shallowness of mind with which Nigeria is ruled. Complex social issues are reduced to just a law-and-order problem that need a jackboot to crush; no sociological analysis; no appreciation of the underlying political economy; consequently problems persist and fester, deepening the perception that Nigeria is hurtling towards a failed state. IGP Onovo even reduced the problem to an ethnic one, appealing to the Igbo people to save his job by ending kidnappings; Daily Trust last Thursday reported that Israeli MOSSAD spooks were even drafted into the search for the kidnapped journalists, thus ridiculing our country’s sovereignty. And as usual, there have been plenty of prayers: by NUJ and NAWOJ! No thinking, all prayers! That about sums up the attitude deployed to problems of society.

Daily Trust for more

Link

NEW YORK

Digging a little deeper into the [Inception] story now, can you walk me through whose dream is whose?

Okay. So first there’s reality. We get on the plane. We go to sleep. Then we’re in my dream, Yusuf’s dream. Because my pee urge causes it to rain. That’s how I see it. The architecture is Ariadne’s (Ellen Page’s) design, but it’s my dream. Then we drop down a level and go to the bar, to the hotel. I think we’re in Arthur’s (Joseph Gorden-Levitt’s) dream at that point. Then — this is where it gets mind-bending — we drop down into Fischer’s (Cillian Murphy’s) dream, even though he thinks they’re going to Browning’s (Tom Berenger’s) dream.

New York for more

by DR. JARED A. BALL

Remember, it was reported that Lynne Stewart, for example, was likely given such a harsh sentence not because of her particular alleged “crime,” but because she was seen by the judge as insufficiently repentant.

I received an email the other day from a veteran political activist. It read, “Cynthia’s pops died today, Marilyn Buck was released, Lynne Stewart got 10 years and so did Sundiata Acoli. Herman Bell was denied parole again. What a roller coaster.” “Cynthia’s pop,” is James Edwards “Billy” McKinney, a former member of the Georgia State legislature and Atlanta policeman. McKinney, as Bruce Dixon has explained, was a cop in Atlanta “when Black police officers couldn’t arrest white people.” And, of course, he was the father of former Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney. Marilyn Buck, a white supporter of the Black Liberation Movement who was convicted for (among other things) having aided in the escape of Assata Shakur, was released after more than 25 years in prison. But people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced to 10 years for her defense of an accused “terrorist” which some say is a death sentence given her age and health. Black Panther and Black Liberation Movement veterans Sundiata Acoli and Herman Bell were both given 10 more years in prison and denied parole respectively. And this is that “roller coaster.” The tiniest of good news, the release of one political prisoner, is horribly balanced against the exchange for another and the further entrenchment of suffering for two more amidst the loss of a father, activist and frontline progressive.

Black Agenda Report for more

by GRAHAM MATTHEWS

Gillard made sympathetic noises about western Sydney roads being more like Los Angeles traffic jams and the trains being a “sardine express to Central, Town Hall or Wynyard”. She said: “It’s time for government to ask this question: can we really ask western Sydney to absorb thousands and thousands more and guarantee the quality of our lives?”

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But is the problem caused by population growth?

The period of fastest population growth in Australia was in the post-World War II period, when increased fertility rates (the “baby boom”) combined with assisted migration.

Between 1945 and 1979, the population of Australia almost doubled, from 7.4 million to 14.4 million, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Unemployment remained below 3% throughout the years of strongest population growth, only beginning to rise after the worldwide recession of the early 1970s.

Green Left for more

by MAIRI MACLEOD

But can the same biological principles explain the difference in behaviour between rich and poor within a developed, post-industrialised country? Nettle, for one, believes it can. In a study of over 8000 families, he found that in the most deprived parts of England people can barely expect 50 years of healthy life, nearly two decades less than in affluent areas. And sure enough, women from poor neighbourhoods are likely to have their babies at an early age and in quick succession. They have smaller babies and they breastfeed less, both of which make it easier to get pregnant again sooner (Behavioral Ecology, DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arp202).

New Scientist for more

via 3 Quarks Daily

by SUDHIR SITAPATI

The popularity in Pakistan of Indian soaps, with strong Hindu motifs, is not as odd as it seems. The content of soaps and films, like parliamentary elections, operates on the principle of the Largest One Takes All (LOTA). This means, the content of films and soaps disproportionately reflect the ‘culture’ of the largest single block of viewers (even if a minority) often to the exclusion of a fragmented majority. To understand why, think of a country with eight groups—each comprising 10 per cent and one with 20 per cent of the population. If each group watched soaps that only reflected their culture, a soap producer would rather reflect only the culture of the largest group (guaranteeing 20 per cent viewership) rather than all groups in their correct proportion (10 per cent viewership 80 per cent of the time).

Outlook India for more

by TARIQ ALI

PHOTO/Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency/LA TIMES (Thanks to Asghar Vasanwala for the photo.)

An ugly anti-Muslim chauvinism accompanies India’s violence. It has been open season on Muslims since 9/11, when the liberation struggle in Kashmir was conveniently subsumed under the war on terror and Israeli military officers were invited to visit Akhnur military base in the province and advise on counter-terrorism measures. The website India Defence noted in September 2008 that ‘Maj-Gen Avi Mizrahi paid an unscheduled visit to the disputed state of Kashmir last week to get an up-close look at the challenges the Indian military faces in its fight against Islamic insurgents. Mizrahi was in India for three days of meetings with the country’s military brass and to discuss a plan the IDF is drafting for Israeli commandos to train Indian counterterror forces.’ Their advice was straightforward: do as we do in Palestine and buy our weapons. In the six years since 2002 New Delhi had purchased $5 billion-worth of weaponry from the Israelis, to good effect.

London Review of Books for more

via Let Us Build Pakistan