Dignity and the land

When hard times arrive, as they have for generations, some Vermonters have turned to the land for help.

#In this land of a thousand hills, the soil has—with its ubiquitous rocks, verdant woodlands, and edible wildlife—helped define our character. In modern times, the land has mattered less for ex-urban and suburban dwellers moving here, but for some poor folks this land has been their insurance policy.

#A few weeks ago, I watched a father and son scavenge large pieces of wood in front of a well-appointed house in Salisbury. The wood scraps they picked looked like the remains of a recently downed sugar maple tree. The tree was probably blown down during the violent wind storm of Dec. 21, 2012.

#The duo filled up the back of a rusty pickup truck with the free timber and then sped off to parts unknown.

#For the non-native property owner, I am sure the dead sugar maple was just so much worthless vegetable matter which needed to be removed from the landscape. But for father and son, this collected wood could either serve to heat the house for a week or become firewood-for-sale.

#A few days later, a solitary man—wearing a faded jean jacket—was walking along Route 7 north of Rutland Town picking up discarded soda and beer containers and placing them in a large, plastic trash bag.

#My guess is that this itinerant collector wasn’t interested in getting a jump on Green Up Day; instead, he was turning roadside trash into cash via Vermont’s Bottle Bill. So, thanks to all the lazy litter bugs traveling that stretch of Route 7, the land provides for those who would dare “harvest” it.

#Quaker Rowland Evans Robinson of Ferrisburgh once observed that hardscrabble Vermonters of the 19th century showed their “independence, the pure air of heaven to breathe, and the blessed privilege of daily communion with nature” in spite of their material poverty. 

Source  http://www.addison-eagle.com/news/2013/apr/15/dignity-and-land/

Verrückte Boxershorts BawBags nun im Handel

Die ausgefallene schottische Unterwäschemarke BawBags mit seinen verrückten Designs ist seit Anfang November 2012 in Deutschland und Österreich erhältlich. Zwischenzeitlich sind die BawBags im Handel zu finden. In Bayern sind die BawBags bei Titus in Rosenheim, Ridersheaven in Sonthofen, Trick 17 Lukesch & Schützenberger in Passau, OutofBounds in Oberstdorf und X-World Skateshop in Herzogenaurach erwerbbar.

Außerdem sind die ausgefallenen Boxershorts noch bei PDM Beach Shop in Potsdam, Intersport Ebli in Griesheim und Icecream Sportartikel in Köln zu kaufen. Die Freestyle Boxershorts sind alternativ auch Online im Web unter bawbags.de zu erwerben.

Die eShop Manager AG vertreibt BawBags in Deutschland. Sie bietet Unternehmen Dienstleistungen im Bereich eCommerce-Unterstützung an und hat ihren Sitz in Ottobrunn in der Nähe von München.

Das Unternehmen sucht auch noch Praktikanten oder Festangestellte in den Bereichen Marketing, Verwaltung und Vertrieb. Mehr Informationen unter www.eshop-manager.de

Source  http://www.modelvita.com/mode-magazin/2013/verruckte-boxershorts-bawbags-nun-im-handel/28106

3rd Nepal Human Rights Int'l Film Festival concludes

The 3rd Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival came to a conclusion on Sunday. The festival opened on Thursday at the Nepal Tourism Board with the screening of ‘Saving Face’ directed by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

Gail Mooney’s ‘Opening Our Eyes’ which follows 11 ordinary but inspiring people around the world was the closing film. After the screening, aspiring filmmakers and interested people sat through a Master Class conducted by Dan Wolman, Israeli director of ‘Gei Oni’. The talk was divided into three parts where he talked about independent filmmaking, the history of Israeli cinema and his works.

Purna Singh Baraily, Festival Director and Chairperson of the Human Rights Film Center, said that they were very excited and happy with the response garnered by the festival. “There was a very good response and I believe we had around 5000 people during the four days of the festival. We will take this as an encouragement and create a better festival for the coming year,” he said.

25 films from countries like Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Norway, Japan, Egypt, Israel, and USA were screened during the festival.

Go on and make films: Dan Wolman

The 71-year-old energetic filmmaker, Dan Wolman believes that there should be no hesitation and barriers when it comes to making films. His film ‘Gei Oni’ was screened Saturday at the festival. ‘Gei Oni’ was adapted from Shulamit Lapid’s novel, and Wolman says he was fascinated when he read it. Very successful in Israel, the film has won awards from countries like China, France, Germany and recently awarded the ‘Best Film’ in the World Cinema section of the Delhi International Film Festival.

The film is set some 140 years back. How relevant is the film to Israel today?
The political conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is a very major thing. Through ‘Gei Oni’ we see how the seed of what continues today was just being sown. The Jewish people actually paid money for the land they occupied and since Palestine was a part of the Ottoman Empire then, there were Arabs living peacefully alongside the Jews and the Palestinians. That was a different relationship then.

Many people see the film as a picture of the old Israel. The spirit of helping one another was very strong at that time and there was something very pure. Also, I think people liked the film because there was something very naïve there.

What’s the most important thing to remember while adapting literature into a film?
I like to see it as a spring board. I don’t believe that I need to stick to every plot of the book to the last detail. I made a film called ‘My Michael’, which was a very popular book by perhaps the most popular author of my country. The book is very metaphorical, and there’s not much action in it. So if I had made a film sticking to every detail of the book, then I would just have a woman sitting on a chair with her head full of thoughts.

I take the idea not the entire thing. Even with ‘Gei Oni’, I changed the ending. In the novel, the hero dies but I made sure that the characters have a happy ending. Someone wrote to me, ‘Dan thanks for taking me from the land of words to the land of images with no pain’. That makes me think that I didn’t betray the novel.

What suggestion do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
I see most young filmmakers fear. They think that to make a film takes a lot of money. But something has happened because of digital photography. It’s so simple to make a films now. Write a script, get some friends and shoot on a weekend. I’m trying to give strength to people to not be afraid and just go ahead.

Source  http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=50593

Journalists, civil society members hail implementation of new Pak-India visa regime

Journalists from the Indo-Pak region and members of the civil society are hailing the new Pak-India agreement on visa regime, terming the implementation of relaxed visa policy in both countries as a good development.

According to Radio Pakistan, analysts and members of the civil society showed hope that this policy would help maintain cordial relations between both the neighbouring countries in the future.

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) head Ahmad Bilal Mehbood said that implementation of the new visa regime would have a positive impact on bilateral relations between the two countries, adding that people to people contact, trade ties and tourism could be promoted between the two neighbouring countries. He further said that such steps would also reduce tensions and would increase mutual trust between Pakistan and India.

Former ambassador of Pakistan B A Malik termed the implementation of the new visa regime as a great achievement of the governments of Pakistan and India.

Talking to Radio Pakistan he said it was a good development as it would make travelling easy for the people living on both sides of the border.

He further said that both countries should make advancement towards normalization of ties. He hoped that with the passage of time, visa restrictions in both countries would end, and like the European Union countries, people from either side would be able to travel easily across the border.

Replying to a question, Malik said that the Kashmir issue would also be resolved if both countries were to continue walking on the road of friendship.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Pilwasha Behram said that implementation of the new visa regime would enhance trust level between the two countries, adding that both sides wanted people to people contact for the promotion of peace and trade.

Professor of Political Science in New Delhi University Navita Chitta Behra said that Indo-Pak relations would improve and people of both countries would be benefited by an increase in mass level contact as a result of the new visa policy.

Talking to Radio Pakistan via phone from New Delhi, she said there were some elements with vested interests who did not want good relations between both the neighboring countries.

She said these elements could be checked by applying public pressure in both countries and by ensuring that a democratic system continued to prevail on both sides of the border.

Senior Indian journalist Venod Kumar Sharma had welcomed the move of making the new Pak-India visa regime operational.

Talking to Radio Pakistan, he said that families divided by the border in both the countries had taken a sigh of relief after the new visa regime was introduced.

It is worth mentioning here that the new visa regime was signed by both countries in September this year, however, an announcement regarding its implementation had been made during the recent meeting of interior ministers of both countries’ in New Delhi.

According to the new visa policy, senior citizens of both countries who were beyond 65 years of age and children less than 12 years of age would be issued two years multiple visa.

Other citizens from both the countries who wanted to visit either Pakistan or India would be provided visa of five cities in each country.

Source  http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/12/17/city/karachi/journalists-civil-society-members-hail-implementation-of-new-pak-india-visa-regime-2/

BawBags – Verrückte Unterwäsche für die Kronjuwelen

BawBags – eine Unterwäschemarke mit Charakter. In UK schon ein Hit, kommt die schottische Unterwäschemarke jetzt nach Deutschland. Eine Anzüglichkeit vorweg: wörtlich übersetzt bedeutet das Wort “BawBags” so viel wie “Hodensack”, “Eiertasche” oder “Murmelbeutel”. Hier ein Einblick in die Welt der verrückten Boxershorts.

BawBags – immer die richtige Verpackung

Aus dem Alkohol geboren

Die beiden schottischen Firmengründer, Colin Reid und Midge Whyte, haben die Idee zu BawBags in einem schottischen Pub bekommen. Als die beiden Freunde massenweise Whiskeys und Bier konsumiert haben, ist ihnen irgendwann die Idee gekommen, dass der Unterwäschebranche eines fehlt: Eier. Denn um diese zu schützen, gibt es immerhin Unterwäsche, warum also haben die Firmen, die diese Wäsche herstellen, keine?

Darum wollten die beiden Schotten “Baws”, schottischer Slang für “Eier”, in das Design bringen. Und so sehen die Kreationen dann auch aus: keine langweiligen, einfallslosen Unterhosen, sondern freche, kreative Schöpfungen, die zeigen, dass der Träger der Unterhose dieselbe auch ausfüllen kann. Die verrückte Unterwäsche der Schotten zeigt zum Beispiel Kussmünder, die der Betrachterin sofort verraten, was der Träger denn von ihr gedenkt zu tun (BawBags Lips).

Doch auch abseits der horizontalen Herausforderung bieten die Unterhosen so einiges.

So gehört zu der Unterwäsche ein immer wieder kehrendes Maskottchen: der Bawrilla – dieser scheint eine Verwandtschaft mit dem Gorilla zu haben. Natürlich gibt es deshalb auch das Designs BawBags Monkey (http://www.bawbags.de/Boxershort-Boys-Jungs-Herren/BawBags-Boys—Herren-Boxershort—Style–Monkey-Black.html) Auch die Ankunft der ersten Pandabären im Zoo von Edinburgh hat Unterwäsche hervorgebracht. Logischerweise unter dem Namen Pandadesign.

Mut zur Hodenkrebsvorsorge

Das schottische Label wurde dabei zwar als Spaßlabel gegründet, verkauft inzwischen aber bereits mehr als 30.000 Produkte monatlich, sowohl im Laden, als auch online im eshop. Besonders online erfreuen sich die Unterhosen der beiden Schotten steigender Beliebtheit.

Im firmeneigenen eshop oder auf anderen Wegen, die Kunde von der Kreation der Schotten, macht immer mehr von sich reden. Im kommenden Februar werden die BawBags sogar auf der ISPO in München einen eigenen Stand haben.

Doch nicht nur der firmeneigene Shop führt die verrückte Unterwäsche der Schotten, auch die Firma, die dem  eshop seinen Namen gibt, vertreibt die Wäsche. Die eShop Manager AG ist innerhalb Deutschlands für den Vertrieb der schottischen Wäschekreationen, sowohl online als auch offline, verantwortlich (mehr Informationen dazu unter www.bawbags.de).

Und da Unterwäsche die Eier des Mannes schützt, sollen diese auch richtig geschützt werden. Hodenkrebs ist besonders im jungen Alter unter allen Krebsarten am weitesten verbreitet. Genau bei diesem Alter will die eShop Manager AG für Aufklärung über Hodenkrebs sorgen. Aus diesem Grunde spendet BawBags einen Teil seiner Einnahmen an Stiftungen, die Aufklärung betreiben. Die Unterwäschemarke ist zwar durchaus etwas verrückt, aber keineswegs oberflächlich. BawBags zeigt, dass der Spaß im Leben und die Tiefgründigkeit im Handeln Hand in Hand gehen können.

Source  http://www.modelvita.com/mode-magazin/2012/bawbags-verruckte-unterwasche-fur-die-kronjuwelen/23914

Pakistan's polarisation makes progress impossible

First, the imperatives of a security state which has resulted in the political domination of the military and the diversion of a large share of resources away from critical expenditures on social services; defence expenditure is in excess of US$35 per capita as against $24 per capita on education and health combined, resulting in almost five soldiers for every doctor and three teachers for two soldiers.

Almost half the population has been denied access to decent education, health and skill-enhancement services and the good governance that gives the less privileged classes a stake in the benefits of economic growth as opposed to that founded on patronage and the family into which they were born.

Second, the self-serving political, economic, military and civil bureaucratic elite have resisted giving up the slightest of privileges to maintain their hold over the key social and economic instruments of power, resulting in the creation of a highly unjust social order. It has been reluctant to create a more equitable society in which the less fortunate segments of society have equality of opportunity for social mobility. This has created a crisis of legitimacy of the state and its institutions. It has been unwilling, even in its own enlightened self-interest, to contribute on the basis of capacity to bear the associated burden the resources required for a fairer society, amply reflected in a tax-to-GDP ratio of less than 10 per cent.

There has been a steady decline in the quality and efficiency of government institutions and the coverage and quality of public services available to the citizenry. As a result, "poverty", measured in terms of access to, and quality of, basic social and economic services that would enable social mobility, has become more severe than the poverty indicators estimated on the basis of nutritional intake.

In the revolution unfolding in the shape of the knowledge-based road to growth we are horribly divided over how society should be moulded. The type of education available to different segments of society has facilitated this division of mindsets.

Instead of education being a unifying factor by providing equal opportunities for social mobility (as is the case in most societies) there are the elite schools, private schools for the lower- and middle-income groups, and poorly endowed and managed government schools for the poorest.

The products of these institutions are separated by walls and not equipped to participate on equal terms in economic growth. More worryingly the ability of the economy to absorb this youth with limited skills has worsened over the last six years because of a growth rate - averaging below 3 per cent - failing to accommodate even half of the annual addition to the labour force.

The unskilled, unemployed young men or those without steady jobs and with little protection from the excesses of law-enforcement agencies and their surrogates do not have enough stakes in this entrenched system. They have been left to fend for themselves by the rich, whose accelerated progress has sharpened the disparities at a time when the economy is stagnating.

The share of household income of the poorest income group has shrunk from 8.4 per cent in 1970-71 to under 6 per cent, and that of the richest increased from 41.5 per cent to in excess of 50 per cent, reflecting the degree of permanence in polarisation.

Consequently, the country stands dreadfully polarised between the haves and have-nots and between modernists and traditionalists, with their radically different worldviews fuelling resentment and hatred against the pillars of the state and the iniquitous systems and structures. That a young man opts to become a suicide bomber to destroy all symbols of affluence and state power can partially be explained by his lack of a stake in such a system.

Worsening the impact of these adverse developments is the continued inadequate attention to realities on the ground, which is being lost rapidly by the liberal, secular schools of thought to Islamic revivalists. Liberals are becoming a minority as the battle for minds, ideas and hearts is being lost.

I do not agree with those who argue that the ascendancy of religious extremism fostered by two decades of active promotion and support of such forces by unrepresentative state agencies can be checked simply by withdrawing state patronage and unfettered democracy.

The growth of madressahs and the strength of the Islamists can largely be explained by these outcomes. Not only are those enrolled in these madressahs endowed with some reading and writing skills (that the public system has failed to deliver), they also provide food, clothing and shelter and cater to spiritual needs.

The argument that since there are less than 5 per cent of children enrolled in madressahs we should not exaggerate their power fails to capture the danger that underlies this development. There are now close to 2.5 million "students" in madressahs being brainwashed by illiterate peddlers of odious dogmas, many of whom will soon be wielding guns and supporting these ideologues.

The crumbling Pakistani state will be simply incapable of taming these millions of armed recruits of hate and darkness, especially with their ideas penetrating and finding resonance within key institutions of the state. The fear of their ability to silence critics is evident from the public reactions of most of the political leadership following the attempted murder of brave Malala.

Furthermore, politically ambitious graduates from humbler social classes would be welcomed by the religiously inclined political parties whose members and leadership comes from similar socio-economic backgrounds. They provide young aspirants opportunities to aspire for leadership roles that would not be open to them in the mainstream political parties.

In the highly charged environment of anti-West feelings they can exploit the weaknesses of mainstream political parties, especially considering the widely held perception that they look to western leadership for direction and support. The roots of the right-wing parties and their ideology have deepened and acquired a new potency such that they can no longer be dismissed lightly, as liberals have tended to do until now, as forces with limited electoral support. In any case, most do not see their route to power through the electoral process but through other means!

Without the education and skills to become effective economic actors, in a country where weaponry is freely available, we see dacoities and kidnapping for ransom and the rise of the religious zealots that, ironically, represent our "demographic dividend" (or more appropriately "demographic nightmare") that Pakistan has reaped.

With the whittling away of the writ of the state, matters have come to such a pass that no government alone will be able tackle these deep-rooted problems effectively. The mainstream political parties need to shed their complacency and public posturing about the moderate forces of resilience in civil society. The business-as-usual approach will work to the advantage of the mullahs as social mores change in their favour, and more people on the fringes find it convenient and simpler to take the easy option and join the mobs.

Shahid Kardar is a former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.

Source  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Pakistans-polarisation-makes-progress-impossible-30194601.html

American rights group arrives in Pakistan to participate in PTI peace rally

Ignoring a travel warning issued by the U.S. State Department for Pakistan, a 30-member U.S. civil society delegation has reached Islamabad to participate in the rally organised by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on October 7 to protest against drone strikes.

PTI chief Imran Khan said the delegation, which includes civil society members and parents of U.S. Army soldiers, would march with the PTI to South Waziristan, reports The Nation.

Anne Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel and former U.S. ambassador, will lead the delegation. Wright had resigned from the Army when U.S. started its war against Iraq in 2003. She is now an anti-war activist and a member of the U.S. civil society organisation working for peace in the world.

"We came from U.S. for this historic march against drone attacks. We also went the places in U.S. from where the drones are operated and we registered our protest. We are also protesting U.S. war policies and we are telling you that American people are also against these attacks," she said.

Wright said U.S. is violating the sovereignty of Pakistan by carrying out drone strikes.

"We believe that travel warning is issued because the U.S. government does not want us to see what they are doing. We believe the President of the US is killing innocent people in Pakistan, that is wrong," Wright said.

She said the U.S. Federal court has recently asked CIA to inform about drone programme in Pakistan but they simply refused to tell anything. (ANI)

Source  http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/10/01/237-American-rights-group-arrives-in-Pakistan-to-participate-in-PTI-peace-rally.html