Robert Blake In Our Gang

How can India – a total failure – help Sri Lanka?

The 118 members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that met in Bali last week would have gone home feeling that it is no longer the prestigious moral force that stood in the middle of two big power blocs competing for dominance at the height of the Cold War. When the two titans were teetering on the verge of a nuclear holocaust new nations coming out of centuries of colonialism looked up to India as the leading light of the day. The post-colonial regimes had faith and trust in the voice of India which was raised and articulated eloquently their aspirations in the UN by towering figures like Nehru’s sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, and mostly Krishna Menon who, in this talkathons, poured scorn on the West with unmitigated contempt to restore the dignity and the respect which were denied to them under Western colonialism. The voice of India meant everything to the small nations sandwiched between the big powers. India’s moral stature had peaked to Himalayan heights because it was seen as the protector and guardian of the new nations. Looking back it seems that it was only a false start. Over the years India has lost that moral stature. India has failed to live up to the ideals on which it was founded. The Gandhi-Nehruvian code of politics no longer inspires even the Indians. Asia witnessed two great political forces that changed the map of the world in the post-World War II era: 1) Mao’s Chinese nationalist revolution (Marxism was only a veneer) that overthrew the Western hegemony exercised through corrupt and pro-American Chiang Kai-shek and 2) the non-violent revolution led by Mahatma Gandhi. Both caught the imagination of the world as two different kinds of political moralities that could pave the way for the future. However, it was the Gandhian non-violent revolution which was rated highly as the inspiring model for Afro-Asia. Gandhi-Nehruvian model was essentially an anti-imperialism and domination of small nations by big brothers. India no longer adheres to those founding principles. It has become a violent imperialist nation ready to use the big stick against those who refuse to toe its line. India is a morally bankrupt nation ready to align itself with any force that serves its self-centred interests. India began by distancing itself from the American-led West. Then it had stature for standing up to the Western imperialists. Today it has sunk to the level of being the lap dog of America.

New creepy crime tour launches in LA > Blogger at Large

If you’re visiting Los Angeles it’d be craaazy not to stalk a celebrity or two. You can jump on a bus and head off for a drive-by of the gated houses of the rich and famous and even get amongst the TMZ paparazzi who are ‘on the job’ even while guiding you around.

But now a new tour is launching for the weirdos among us who love nothing more than a gory crime scene. Crime Scene Tours is for all those who are obsessed with cops and robbers TV shows (or the real life Crime and Investigation channel, as is the case in my house).

These tours are led by LA’s finest – both retired and currently serving police officers, so you can also pick their brains about other cases (closed of course) that you have a macabre fascination in.

“Perfect for amateur sleuths and drama junkies who enjoy television’s most popular crime shows, Crime Scene Tours L.A. will take curious tourists to some of the area’s most sensational crime scenes.  Each crime will be examined in depth and multiple locations will be visited that may include Studio City, backdrop to the oldest movie studios in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and the palatial mansions of the rich and famous, and the exclusive village of Brentwood made famous by football star and convicted criminal, O.J. Simpson.”

This one-of-a-kind tour includes the North Hollywood bank robbery – one of the most infamous shootouts in Los Angeles history, the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley, wife of Robert Blake, television star of “Baretta” and “Our Gang,” the murders of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, former wife of O.J. Simpson, the heinous crimes of the Night Stalker and the Hillside Strangler, the Manson family and the murders of actress Sharon Tate and Abigail Folger, heir to Folgers Coffee, and The Black Dahlia, one of the oldest unsolved murders in Los Angeles history.

The 2 ½ hour tour, created by former Los Angeles Police Department crime analyst Lonnie Levine, begins this month.

But for those who’d rather something a little less bloody and more paparazzi-perving-at-celebrities excitement, Starline Tours (which started in 1935 showing off celebrity homes) has a bunch of other tours, including the new TMZ Hollywood Tour which even have papo’s on board who leap off the bus and grab a shot of some poor unsuspecting actress coming out of Starbucks in her catch-me-unawares Marc Jacobs. Just imagine the fun.

Our gang, the life and times of the Little rascals

Then came relocation to Los Angeles, and Our Gang. "I wasn'ta child star," Robert Blake has said more than once, "I was a child laborer. ...

TVparty!, television's untold tales

Is there a curse on former Our Gang and Little Rascal stars? ... Young Robert Blake made seven to twelve films a year for eight years straight, but, ...

Criminal Evidence

CHAPTER 8 Hearsay and Its Exceptions Feature Case: Robert Blake Robert Blake was a child star who appeared in “Our Gang” short features. ...

Criminology for Dummies

The Murder of Robert Blake's Wife Robert Blake was a child actor in some of the Our Gang short movies from 1939 to 1944; he also starred as a murderer in ...

Science fiction confidential, interviews with 23 monster stars and filmmakers

During Turner Classic Movies' recent Edward L. Cahn film festival, Robert Blake, who acted in some ofCahn's "Our Gang" shorts, said that Cahn was a great ...