Author Archives: Abhi

About Abhi

Abhi lives in Los Angeles and works to put things into space.

Power and Beauty?

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An anonymous tipster informs me that there is but a single South Asian amongst the 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill, and he’s #48. [Via Wonkette]

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The “50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill” of 2005 is finally out and we’re not sure where to begin. We do notice that none of last year’s most beautiful made it to this year’s list. It’s a tough town, one year you’re young and gorgeous, the next you’re. . Denny Hastert.

Republican staffer Dino Teppara [previous mentions 1,2] seems to have made the cut. We HAVE to do better than just one for next year people. At least one Democrat, please.

If you are a jerk like me then you will soon be forwarding this link to all your friends who work on the Hill and telling them to start working out and dressing better for a shot next year. 🙂

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Notes from the Underground

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SM reader Cicatrix forwards us this picture (on the left) presumably taken at a Tube Station in London [Via Gawker]. But seriously people. How many of us in a rush to go to work have time to actually READ a sign. I’m not telling Tube workers how to do their jobs but I would have made it into a drawing instead of a note so you could get the gist of it faster. How about something like the one on the right instead?

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Gridiron Guru?

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Knowing that I am a lifelong die-hard 49ers fan, my friend Sandeep S. tips me off about the ambitious young Paraag Marathe. Who is he and how did he end up in the 9ers front office at the age of 28? The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Anyone following the 49ers’ upheaval the last month [NSFW] ran across the name of Paraag Marathe. The assistant to the general manager’s rapid ascension within the 49ers caught the notice of the rest of the league during the team’s recent shakeup.

Who is this 28-year-old whiz kid? How did this man with an MBA from Stanford with little grounding in football become one of four people choosing the 49ers’ next coach and establishing the direction of an organization adrift? Because nobody knew the answers to these questions, Marathe became a lightning rod for the general dismay with the organization among columnists, radio talk-show hosts and even the NFL set, who openly wondered what he was doing in the team’s brain trust.

Marathe (pronounced mah-RAH-tay) became the unwitting victim of what many perceived as co-owner John York’s NFL ignorance. It’s a fact this business consultant from San Jose, via Cal and Stanford, impressed York after then- general manager Terry Donahue brought him in and was a big influence on the coaching search. But he is not expected to play a major role, as yet, in the organization.

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New York has double-deckers too

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Fear and paranoia continue to sweep the land. I suppose if you have nothing to hide it’s not a big deal though. The New York Daily News reports (thanks for the tip Brian):

New York was fear city yesterday as heavily armed police swarmed a double-decker bus packed with tourists in Times Square…

In a dramatic sign of the city’s edginess since the London transit bombings, cops evacuated buildings, shut midtown streets and forced about 60 terrified tourists to march off the double-decker bus, with their hands up, in the heart of Broadway.

Cops in riot gear handcuffed a group of apparently harmless South Asian-looking men with British accents after a jittery tour bus worker reported they seemed suspicious.

The men were forced to kneel on the sidewalk, with their hands bound behind their backs, between 50th and 51st Sts. in front of the Winter Garden theater on a sunny summer Sunday with the city packed with tourists.

Here is a checklist I have been working on for myself. Life runs more efficiently when you use checklists for everything I have found:

1) Don’t sweat
2) Don’t carry a large bag
3) Conceal any accent of any kind
4) Read a newspaper (someone about to blow himself up probably wouldn’t be reading the news)
5) Do not pack your lunch in a plastic container

The five men in yesterday’s incident quickly were freed after cops determined they were tourists – not terrorists.

“We just want to clear our heads of the whole thing,” one of the men told the Daily News. “We were humiliated enough.”

“We just want to go,” added another.
Oh wait. I forgot the most ironic part:
“I was definitely frightened from the beginning,” said the driver, Mohammed Stout, 43, of the Bronx. “That’s human nature.”
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“Pods and Blogs” on BBC radio tonight (updated)

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[The segment which aired between 2:24-2:30a.m. GMT can be listened to here.]

The BBC Radio Network-Five Live, has a segment called “Pods and Blogs” which discusses topics currently hot on the blogosphere and then Podcasts them. They have invited Sepia Mutiny on tonight to discuss various issues surrounding the London Bombings that we have written posts about. I will be representing SM. They will also inquire about comments readers have left on our site. This will be an interactive live segment. Questions and comments during the show can be sent to:

IM: podallnight (on all major IM networks)
EMAIL: podallnight at hotmail.co.uk
The segment will be on air between roughly 6:15-6:30p.m. PST Monday night. You can listen live over your computer by visiting here, or download it at a later time onto your computer or pod. If anyone IMs in a difficult question or uses the opportunity to ask if I am the one who leaked Valerie Plame’s name, I will ban you tomorrow 🙂 Continue reading →

I do not consent…well maybe

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Slate’s wonderful “Explainer” series had an informative article detailing your rights while riding the trains (or buses) in New York and D.C. “Are Subway Searches Legal?” This is a particularly relevant topic given the current state of paranoia:

Depends on how it’s done. The Fourth Amendment protects people from “unreasonable searches or seizures.” As a general rule, the government can’t search your baggage without a reason to believe you’re a criminal. But according to legal precedent, a random search is acceptable if it fulfills special needs like public safety. If New York’s subway screenings are challenged in court, the city’s lawyers could argue that the program’s primary purpose is to protect the city from terrorism.

Unless a judge agrees that they fulfill a special need, the screenings will be on shaky legal ground. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that a roadblock used to screen drivers for drug crimes was unconstitutional, since its primary purpose was to apprehend drug traffickers. On the other hand, roadblocks that screen for drunk drivers have been deemed OK, since they promote highway safety. (The court did say in the 2000 ruling that “a roadblock set up to thwart an imminent terrorist attack” would almost certainly be constitutional.)

The key legal point here seems to be that such an extreme curb on privacy rights has to come with both a sunset clause and a geographical constraint:

Let’s assume the courts believe the subways searches are an effective deterrent for terrorism and that the recent subway bombings in London make them reasonable. Then a judge would have to consider whether the scope and duration of the searches is appropriate. The first random subway screenings occurred last summer in Boston during the Democratic Convention. A district court ruled that searches on trains that ran beneath the convention center were acceptable since they took place in a restricted area for a limited amount of time. The New York City searches, though, are taking place all over the system and seem to be of open-ended duration.

The judge must also consider how individuals are selected for screening. If police officers have too much discretion, they might single out certain kinds of people for “random” searches. To prevent profiling, cops are sometimes given a strict formula—in Boston, for example, every 11th passenger was pulled aside at some commuter rail stations. The NYPD says “numerical criteria” are being used, but spokesmen also say that large or suspicious-looking bags can be red flags.

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NBC goes Deep

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SM tipster Chaina alerts us to the fact that we may have an heir apparent to Raj Bhakta. NBC will soon debut its new reality show, cleverly titled The Law Firm:

Real lawyers. Real cases. Real consequences. Executive producer David E. Kelley (The Practice, Ally McBeal) brings a real legal drama to television. Trial attorney and legal analyst Roy Black will manage 12 actual lawyers competing against each other while trying real court cases with judges and juries, resulting in outcomes that will be final, legal and binding. Each week, one legal eagle is eliminated and the top attorney will receive a prize of $250,000. With plenty of drama inside and outside of the courtroom, the result is riveting entertainment.

The compelling cases range from First Amendment issues to neighbor disputes to wrongful death. Distinguished judges will decide some of the cases, while a jury determines the others. In the end, the top attorney will win a prize of $250,000.

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Meet Deep Goswami. This UT graduate will look to fix his horns on the competition.

Why do you think you are a better lawyer than the other associates?
I would consider myself a better lawyer than the other associates because I have more passion, drive, and sincerity in the courtroom, which allows me to better connect with juries. IÂ’m willing to do whatever it takes, within the ethical boundaries, to win the case, and I genuinely care about my clients and their cases. More importantly, IÂ’m much more entertaining in the courtroom than the other associates – I donÂ’t put people to sleep when I argue a case, which some of the others are guilty of doing.

What’s your verdict on reality TV?
Reality shows are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of turning average Joes (no pun intended) into quasi-celebrities who will do anything to ride out their 15 minutes of fame. I hope to be able to count myself among such an esteemed group of individuals.

What, in your opinion, is the biggest misconception people have about lawyers and why is it a misconception?
The biggest misconception about lawyers is that they are lazy and donÂ’t care about their clients. Unfortunately, for the most part, itÂ’s true, which is why IÂ’ve dedicated myself to challenging these stereotypes when IÂ’m in the courtroom, which you can see for yourself when you see me in action on the show.

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The Long Shadow of Hassan-i-Sabbah

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Longtime SM readers know that I enjoy making occasional forays into the past, so as to connect to the present. History is the most spiritual of subjects, more so than even religion in my eyes. Those who believe in reincarnation and karma will find as much wisdom in the recurring motifs of a history book as in any sacred text.

Yesterday we awoke to what may have been yet another attempted suicide bombing. The first words I heard this morning on NPR as my eyes opened were that police had shot “a South Asian man” in the Tube. About two months ago University of Chicago Professor Ropert Pape (who heads the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism) released his book Dying to Win on the history of suicide bombings. Here is an excerpt from his New York Times op-ed re-published on Truthout.org:

Over the past two years, I have compiled a database of every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003 – 315 in all. This includes every episode in which at least one terrorist killed himself or herself while trying to kill others, but excludes attacks authorized by a national government (like those by North Korean agents against South Korea). The data show that there is far less of a connection between suicide terrorism and religious fundamentalism than most people think.

The leading instigator of suicide attacks is the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a Marxist-Leninist group whose members are from Hindu families but who are adamantly opposed to religion. This group committed 76 of the 315 incidents, more than Hamas (54) or Islamic Jihad (27). Even among Muslims, secular groups like the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Al Aksa Martyr Brigades account for more than a third of suicide attacks.

What nearly all suicide terrorist attacks actually have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland. Religion is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations in recruiting and in seeking aid from abroad, but is rarely the root cause

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I need a hug today

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You know what I hate? When someone that isn’t me thinks of a good idea that I would be infinitely better suited to carry out. 🙂 Take Amma “the Hugging Saint,” (a.k.a. Mata Amritanandamayi) for example. People flock to her for a hug and give her money. I give good hug too. The Boston Herald reports:

On the road to enlightenment, no shoes are allowed. Hugs, however, are OK.

At least 3,000 devotees tossed off their footwear before gathering in the lotus position before the smiling Indian spiritual leader known as “Amma,” or mother, revered around the world as “The Hugging Saint.” At the Best Western Royal Plaza Trade Center, truth-seekers engaged in group meditation, then each grabbed a token, like deli counter tickets, to get their hugs.

Amma’s hugs have healing power, some said. Her fund-raising, meanwhile, has allowed her to pledge $22 million to tsunami relief, providing 81,000 meals a day, adopting 350 orphans and sheltering more than 6,000 survivors.

Okay, so here is my vision. We have Sepia Mutiny “hug-ins.” I will announce what city I am in and any reader can come by for a hug. Then we’ll see if our hugging spreads. Not at our North Dakota headquarters though. I don’t want people knowing where we live. After reading this article I suddenly wondered if Dave Matthews and Badly Drawn Boy are fans of Amma. Their respective videos for “Everyday” and “Year of the Rat” would indicate so. Whatever your opinion of Amma, AT LEAST she’s better than this guy.

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Now THAT’s realer than real-deal Holyfield

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The strict and often inflexible immigration rules that have been in effect since 9/11 continues to be displayed as yet another irrational story surfaces. In fairness though, maybe we can just attribute this to good old fashion government bureaucracy. GG2.net reports:

AN ORPHAN girl from India, visiting the US as part of an international goodwill trip, is now battling for life in a US hospital.

Eleven-year-old Shyamala Peddibotla, was admitted to the National Children`s Hospital in Washington, DC with complications from what appears to be diabetes and an infection.

Despite antibiotics having been administered, she continues to suffer from high fever. Apprehension about the girl`s illness is compounded by the fact that three care-takers who were to accompany Shyamala and her eight friends, are still awaiting visas to the United States.

Apparently the Real Deal heard and stepped into the ring to help. The Washington Times reports:

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Former heavyweight champion and philanthropist Evander Holyfield showed up at the State Department yesterday with eight Indian orphan girls in tow, pleading for a visa for the caretaker of a ninth orphan fighting for her life at Children’s Hospital in Washington.

“One of the little girls has diabetes and is in critical condition. Her caretaker needs to come but can’t get a visa,” Mr. Holyfield said in a telephone interview as he stood outside the State Department’s doors.

The hospital has said it cannot release the child without training her custodian in how to monitor 11-year-old Shyamala Peddibotla’s blood sugar level and administer shots of insulin, according to a hospital letter made available to The Washington Times.

If the caregiver — a woman who has tended to Shyamala for the past five years — does not receive a visa, Mr. Holyfield said, the child’s position “is kind of bleak.”

Holyfield is still feared. Someone at the State Department started making some calls on late Tuesday after his visit. Continue reading →