Just What We Need

Just another worm creeping out of the can because we invaded Iraq.

The Kurdish Marxist party, the Kurdish Worker's Party (Kurdish acronym PKK) has been committing violence in eastern Turkey near the Iraqi border. The Kurdish guerrillas are suspected of then slipping across the Iraqi border to take refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. The latest outrage was their kidnapping of a mayor, "Hasim Akyurek, mayor of Yayladere in the Bingol Province and a member of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party . . . "

Then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan threatened to invade northern Iraq. He cited the US invasion of Afghanistan to support the legitimacy of such an action (in fact, Afghanistan had both NATO and United Nations Security Council support, which a Turkish invasion of Iraq does not, to say the least).

Hopefully, something like this will be averted but this is just more evidence that we had no clue about the intricacies of the culture in Iraq and in the surrounding countries.

Daddy's Little Girl

I'm glad I'm not famous. There are too many cuckoos out there. Besides, what would Bill Clinton do with 40 goats and 20 cows in New York City?

"A Kenyan city councilman says he offered Bill Clinton 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand in marriage five years ago. He's still awaiting an answer.

Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor wrote Clinton asking for Chelsea's hand in 2000 when Clinton visited Kenya, Chepkurgor told the East African Standard newspaper. Chepkurgor, 36, vowed to remain single until he gets an answer to his proposal to marry Chelsea, 25.

Chepkurgor, a city councilor in Nakuru, told Clinton of plans for a grand wedding presided over by South African Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

'Had I succeeded in wooing Chelsea, I would have had a grand wedding,'' he told the Standard in an interview published Friday during Clinton's recent visit to Kenya.

Chepkurgor said his letter praised both Clinton's leadership and his wife, now Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for standing by her husband in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The electrical engineering graduate said he promised to pay 40 goats and 20 cows in dowry for Clinton's only daughter in accordance with African tradition. But he said the letter prompted security checks - on him, his family and his classmates.

It's unlikely Clinton ever received the offer. A security official told the Standard the letter probably never made it out of the office because authorities thought Chepkurgor 'just took the joke too far.''"

When You Are Wet, A Baby You Can Get

Well, Gomer strikes again. This time he's apparently Dr. Gomer.

Rick Santorum, in his infinite wisdom and broad of knowledge of women's bodies, their purpose and function, has decided that birth control harms women. Of course he doesn't mention the infinite number of women who are recommended and prescribed hormone based contraceptives for everything from debilitating cramps to endometriosis, but, again he is fixated on unmarried women having sex. What I think he should focus on, instead, is proselytizing to the men on the merits of keeping their weenies in their pants. It's not like unmarried women are having sex by themselves. With effectiveness in that effort, he could help ensure that any woman, on birth control or not, would have to worry about the temptation of unmarried sex.

On the method of family planning that he promotes - the rhythm method I presume - I heard about that from a prominent Milwaukee doctor who was guest lecturer in my requisite "Christian Marriage" class during my last semester of college. The good doctor had 13 children - one of whom was in the class (who neglected to show up that day and was sleeping with the young woman who lived in the apartment below mine). He showed us how to draw little houses on a calendar to map out fertility as it related to ovulation. He also had an accompanying rhyme so that you could remember when it was safe to have sex with your husband: "When you are wet, a baby you can get. When you are dry, the sperm will die."

That was so special I still remember it all these years later ... and still LAUGH out loud!

Oh, Who Cares!?

This chick isn't white. She isn't blond. Who the hell cares about her? Certainly not CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, CNBC or CNN Headline News (Nancy Grace). She may get a blip since the blogging community is profiling her. But, best believe, there will be none of the ridiculous ad naseum coverage for her. No one will scour Philly the way they are scouring Aruba. There will be no million dollar reward or pressure on the government to find her. No ponds will be drained. No screaching family members will be showcased night after night after night ...

Come on people! This woman is not important!

"The Philadelphia Citizens Crime Commission, with the help of a Philadelphia blogger, have launched a reward fund for information leading to Latoyia Figueroa, a 24-year-old pregnant mother of one who has been missing since July 18.

Figueroa went to a doctor's appointment with a male friend on that afternoon, police said, but did not show up to retrieve her 7-year-old daughter from day care later that day.

Stephanie Stephenson, a relative who raised Figueroa after her mother was killed when she was a toddler, told CNN that Figueroa, five months pregnant, left the friend's house in west Philadelphia 'and disappeared.'

Her cell phone -- a constant companion -- has gone quiet for the nine days she has been missing, and her bank has recorded no transactions."

The Marriage That Never Was

This article/book review from Alternet.com is apparently starting quite a stir. But, it says some of the things about the institution (emphasis mine) of marriage that I have been saying for years.

"It has only been based on the concept of love for 200 years; before that, it was a way of ensuring economic and political stability. Through painstakingly-detailed descriptions and anecdotes from hunter-gatherer days to the modern era, Coontz points out that 'almost every marital and sexual arrangement we have seen in recent years, however startling it may appear, has been tried somewhere before.' So when we think of cohabitation, gay marriage, or stepfamilies as deviating from the 'norm,' we are wrong, because there has never really been a 'norm.'

For a country obsessed with the perfect image of the nuclear family -- mother, father and two kids -- this is eye-opening. We are trying to force ourselves to be something we never really were, or were for a very brief period of time. Instead, Coontz argues, we need to be more tolerant of and open to different forms of union. People with traditional 'family values' lack the skills to adapt to social realities that have changed marriage, such as the increased independence of women."

[...]

But it was not until the last 30 years that people began to actually act on the new ideals for beloved marriage. Social conservatives say that there has been a crisis in the last 30 years, and I agree with them, that marriage has been tremendously weakened as an institution. It's lost its former monopoly over organizing sexuality, male-female relations, political social and economic rights, and personal legitimacy. Where I disagree with them, is in how to evaluate that change and its consequences. I agree that it poses tremendous challenges to us, the breakdown of this monopoly of marriage, but I disagree with the idea that one could make marriage better by trying to shoehorn everyone back into the older forms of marriage. Because the main things that have weakened marriage as an institution are the same things that have strengthened marriage as a relationship. Because marriage is now more optional, because for the first time ever, men and women have equal rights in marriage and outside it. Because women have economic independence. This means that you can negotiate a marriage, and make it more flexible and individualized than ever before. So a marriage when it works is better for people, it's fairer, it's more satisfying, it's more loving and fulfilling than ever before in history.

But the same things that make it so are the things that allow people not to marry, or to leave a marriage that they find unsatisfying. My argument then is that you can't have one with out the other. And so we'd better learn to deal with the alternatives to marriage. Alternatives to marriage being singlehood, cohabitation, divorce and stepfamilies, all of these kinds of alternatives to marriage that have arisen.

Singlehood still feels like my best option at this point in my life. Perhaps I'll think about marriage when I retire.

Got Hypocrisy?

Think Progress hits this one on the head. Does Scott McClellen realize what a clown Bush has made of him?

"When asked for reaction to the comments of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) about the treatment of detainees held at Guanatananmo Bay, the administration did not hesitate to attack the statements:

Q How do you take Senator Durbin’s comments? What’s your response to his comments?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, this is, I’m sure, a family program, Steve. I have to be careful what I say. (Laughter.) I thought Durbin was totally out of line…But I just — it was so far over the top that I’m just appalled that anybody who serves in the United States Senate would even think those thoughts.

Q How is the President reacting to [Senator Durbin’s comments]?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the Senator’s remarks are reprehensible…simply beyond belief.

So the question at today’s press briefing about the remarks of Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) certainly seemed like a softball:

QUESTION: Representative Tom Tancredo recently suggested that taking out Muslim holy sites might be a good way to fight terrorism. Now, his statement has been showing up in newspapers throughout the Muslim world. Will the White House ask Mr. Tancredo to apologize and retract his statement as it did with Senator Durbin?

MCCLELLAN: Yes, I think the State Department actually addressed this issue right at the time and they expressed the views of the administration. The president has made very clear that it Islam is a religion that teaches peace and that it is a proud and great religion. And he stated his views on it.

A United States congressman calls for the bombing of Mecca and other Islamic holy sites, refuses to apologize, and this is the best McClellan could come up with. Bombing Mecca isn’t “reprehensible” or “simply beyond belief”?"

Snatching God Back

The really sad thing about the divisiveness that this administration has thrust upon us is that too many good, honest, god-loving people became shrinking violets as the religious right found a new and bellicose voice in the White House. The same people whose peaceful and compassionate view of religion led this country out of slavery and legal discrimination, seemed to disappear as the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell and James Dobson became the angry, judgmental and accusatory face of faith in America.

But, making a "better late than never" comeback is the voice of progressive people of faith. Though not as loud or belligerent, I feel it is just as strong and will, ultimately, lead this country back to where we need to be.

"Somewhere, in all of these stirrings, I see the seeds of a wisdom-based, Earth-honoring, pro-democracy movement -- one that affirms and applauds religious and spiritual impulses, while opposing fundamentalism, chauvinism and theocracy. Over time, this kind of progressive movement has the potential to win -- and win big -- in the United States. To be honest: it is probably the only type of progressive movement that stands a chance in a country as religious as ours.

Such a movement is within reach. But progressives must abandon the old pattern of reducing the Great Faiths to their worst elements, constituents and crimes -- and then dismissing all other facts and features. It is not just stupid political strategy. At a moral level, it is a form of blindness and bigotry that is beneath all of us.

My prayer is that a critical mass of progressives can agree on two basic premises.

Number one: Any progressive approach to 'faith in politics' that ignores the awful crimes of religiously-inspired people is dishonest, inauthentic and can never achieve emancipatory ends.

Number two: At the same time, any approach that fails to honor and embrace the positive contributions of religiously inspired people is also wrong-headed, and it foolishly and needlessly shuts progressives off from our own history, achievements and present sources of vital support.

I believe that Rabbi Lerner has come up with a thoughtful, sensitive and wise approach, worthy of broad-based affirmation. He aims to: 'build an alliance between secular, religious and 'spiritual but not religious' progressives -- in part by challenging the anti-religious biases in parts of the liberal culture (while acknowledging the legitimacy of anger against those parts of the religious world that have embodied authoritarian, racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic practices and attitudes')."

A War By Any Other Name

Now that we are losing the war in Iraq and - with the increased bombings globally - the war on terror, Bushco has to come up with a new lie.

"The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, according to senior administration and military officials.

In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the country's top military officer have spoken of 'a global struggle against violent extremism' rather than 'the global war on terror,' which had been the catchphrase of choice.

Administration officials say the earlier phrase may have outlived its usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the National Press Club on Monday that he had 'objected to the use of the term 'war on terrorism' before, because if you call it a war, then you think of people in uniform as being the solution.'

He said the threat instead should be defined as violent extremism, with the recognition that 'terror is the method they use.'"

Meanwhile, this in no way changes the loss of innocent lives, the expansion of al Qaeda and other groups or the billions of dollars it is costing the American taxpayer.

For The People Who Make My Butt Hurt ...

Lord hear our prayer ...

... and then deliver us from these crazies!

Many people, including some Christian parents and even a number of Christian writers and cultural commentators, claim this best-selling series by British author J.K. Rowling is harmless and even contains some morally positive messages. Meanwhile, Christian author Connie Neal has written a book called The Gospel According to Harry Potter, in which she contends that the sorcery so many Christians condemn in Harry Potter is only a literary device and that the books contain biblical messages that can be used to teach children about good and evil.

But Tim Todd protests that Christians who believe these wildly successful children's books about witchcraft and sorcery are really Christian allegories are being led astray. And in hopes of disabusing kids and adults alike, he is offering an entertaining, biblically sound alternative to Harry Potter in comic book form called Harry Polarity and the Sinister Sorcery Satire.

"The purpose of this book," the minister notes, "is to inform our children, our teachers, and our parents about the dangers of Harry Potter. We do it in a fictional story that is phenomenal. It is a super, super sharp story." What the comic book does, he adds, is put scriptural truths up against the wrong spiritual nature of Rowling's series.

Many parents consider the Harry Potter stories to be a positive contribution to children's literature because they get many young readers, sometimes even reluctant readers, excited about reading. But Todd points out that these books also expose children to a world without any belief in God, where sorcery and witchcraft are presented as a neutral path, good and viable in the right hands.

"The things that concern me about the Harry Potter series," the preacher and Christian publisher notes, "are things like sacrificing animals and emphasizing power, regardless of good or evil. Or offering up blood sacrifices, and things like boiling what seems to be a baby alive in a cauldron, or being possessed by demons -- these are not things that we want to have our children subjected to."

Todd says the Hairy Polarity comic book presents uncompromised scriptural truth in a format kids will enjoy, and it also includes a complete presentation of the gospel. For that reason, he believes it an ideal alternative to Harry Potter, offering kids and their parents something much better to read.

Romper, Bomper, Stomper, Boo

Okay! I am really dating myself but this reminds me of Romper Room. Why is Israel getting bent out of shape because the Pope didn't mention their recent terrorist attack along with the other countries'?

"Pope Benedict XVI faced the first major conflict of his 3-month-old papacy when Israel summoned the Vatican envoy Monday to express outrage that the pope 'deliberately failed' to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis.

The pontiff also said in separate comments Monday that he didn't see any anti-Christian motive in recent attacks blamed on Muslim extremists and urged dialogue with the best elements of Islam.

The German-born Benedict, who has consistently reached out to Jews since assuming the papacy, was criticized by Israel for remarks Sunday from his Alpine vacation retreat in northwestern Italy.

He prayed for God to stop the 'murderous hand' of terrorists and referred to the recent 'abhorrent terrorist attacks' in Egypt, Britain, Turkey and Iraq, but did not mention attacks in Israel.

'The pope deliberately failed to condemn the terrible terror attack that occurred in Israel last week,' a Foreign Ministry statement issued in Jerusalem said."

For crying out loud! When I was about three or four, I got a little upset one morning because [Miss Romper Room Lady] didn't call my name when she looked in her magic mirror at the end of the show. Heck, it took me a while to realize that she just rattled off random names everyday and that I shouldn't take it personally if she didn't see me in that mirror every time. The truth is that Israel is subject to terrorist attacks on a regular basis and also engages in aggressive retaliation. I do not believe that just because the Pope didn't mention every single country where a bombing has occurred doesn't mean that it was a malicious snub.

I learned, before kindergarten, that it isn't always about me ... that everybody gets a turn ... that everyone gets to feel "special" at different times. Perhaps Israel should watch some old reruns of Romper Room.

I'm Not One To Gossip

... so you didn't hear this from me.

"For years, political insiders in the Lone Star State have whispered about Rove’s close friendship with lobbyist Karen Johnson, a never-married, forty-something GOP loyalist from Austin, Texas. The two first became close when Johnson sat on the board of then-Governor George W. Bush’s Business Council over a decade ago. Their friendship reportedly deepened after Bush appointed Johnson—a little-known spokesperson for the Texas Good Roads Association—to a seat on his Transportation Department transition team in 2000. The plum appointment enabled Johnson’s lobbying firm, Infrastructure Solutions, to snare such high-paying clients as Aetna and the City of Laredo. Sources say Johnson now frequently travels between Washington D.C. and Austin, where she frequently appears at Rove’s side at parties and unofficial functions.

Although there is no evidence that their relationship is anything but professional, the close association between the married White House aide and the comely lobbyist has long raised eyebrows in conservative Texas circles. Asked about the pair, a prominent political journalist who has written extensively about Rove says, “I’ve heard the stories, but I would never write about Karl and Karen. If you want to keep your job as a reporter in Texas, you make believe you don’t see them together.”

In the post-Lewinsky era, Washington’s press corps has mostly avoided reporting on the private lives of public officials. But as the political climate in the capitol grows more poisonous, Rove’s close friendship with the lobbyist has attracted increased scrutiny from opponents eager to prove that Bush’s dirty trickster is sitting on some dirty laundry of his own.

Wicked brilliance aside, Karl Rove's puffy and portly appearance conjur up images of Horton (the one who heard a Who).

What Is A Devout Catholic?

You know something? I am sick of people claiming to be a devout this or a devout that. What, exactly, is a devout Catholic?

"Catholic groups on Wednesday (July 20) said they would guard against any attempt to use religious faith to derail the nomination of Judge John Roberts, a devout Catholic, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

To make the point explicitly clear, they pointed to the very Constitution that Roberts would swear to uphold, and its prohibition against using any type of 'religious test' as a qualification for higher office.

'A person's religious faith, and how they live that faith as an individual, has no bearing and no place in the confirmation hearing,' said Joe Cella, president of a new Catholic group, Fidelis, formed to support conservative judges.

After another Catholic, William Pryor, saw his appeals court nomination stalled in 2003 over questions of his 'deeply held religious beliefs,' Catholic activists said they would not allow Roberts to face the same scrutiny. "

I guess I question this because I find that even the most devout practitioners of many faiths have their limits. I am sure that no one would dare ask but I have a question. Along with abortion, divorce and the death penalty, pre-marital sex is also a sin. So, while I appreciate people's faith and often strict interpretation of church doctrine, sex seems to be the exception.

John Roberts (along with his wife) got married at the age of 41. Granted this is no one's business but his own but who would believe that this man was devout enough to remain celibate until his wedding night? That is sort of a litmus test I have for the many devout people I meet (who want to thump their bible about everything else). It is amazing how the sacrament of confession suddenly becomes the cure for transgressions of that nature. The sad thing is that if he were to reveal that he was celibate all those years and/or didn't have much time for a wife, people might label him something else.

May I Please Be Excused?

I keep hearing about his integrity but, given the veil of secrecy and lack of a paper trail, I'd be hard pressed to believe that a man of such great faith would be able to recuse himself from a case where he could impact the lives of women based on his religious beliefs.

"The exchange occurred during one of Roberts' informal discussions with senators last week. According to two people who attended the meeting, Roberts was asked by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considers immoral. Roberts is a devout Catholic and is married to an ardent pro-life activist. The Catholic Church considers abortion to be a sin, and various church leaders have stated that government officials supporting abortion should be denied religious rites such as communion. (Pope Benedict XVI is often cited as holding this strict view of the merging of a person's faith and public duties).

Renowned for his unflappable style in oral argument, Roberts appeared nonplused and, according to sources in the meeting, answered after a long pause that he would probably have to recuse himself."

Sorry, I think that he'd fib to the left now, rule in favor of the right later, then go to confession to ask for forgiveness for his deception. (Wow, I am one cynical non-practicing Catholic girl)!

Ricky The Moocher

Okay. I'm too through! I won't pretend that I think that $162,000 a year is an adequate amount to support a family of eight in the Washington D.C. area but how can this man take money from his retired parents because he wants to populate the world and cannot afford it?

"Rick and Karen Santorum, a former nurse and a nonpracticing attorney, have six children between the ages of 2 and 14, and live in Leesburg, Va., about an hour from Washington and as close to Washington as they could afford a home big enough for their family. (Karen Santorum would not be interviewed for this article.) Santorum drives himself to and from Capitol Hill in a 2001 Chevy TrailBlazer. He will not work Sundays, except in extraordinary circumstances, and he rarely stays overnight when traveling because he does not like to be away from his family. He tends a large vegetable garden and several fruit trees, cuts his own grass and does home repairs. Santorum says he does not want his home-state voters to think he feels impoverished on his $162,100 Senate salary, but it is clear that money is a concern and that he is almost certainly one of the least well-off among the 100 senators.

''We live paycheck to paycheck, absolutely,'' he says. Does he have money set aside for college? ''No. None. I always tell my kids: 'Work hard. We'll take out loans. Whatever.' '' He volunteers that his parents help out financially. ''They're by no means wealthy -- they're two retired V. A. employees -- but they'll send a check every now and then. They realize things are a little tighter for us.''"

What a big, freaking, GOMER! BTW, his mother worked?

(and read the entire article for more of his wing nuttery)

They Shot Him Dead!

This is weird to me. Why do you need to pump 5 bullets into someone that you've tackled to the ground?

"Police shot and killed a man on the London tube this morning. And London's police commissioner, Ian Blair, is now saying that the shooting was directly connected with the investigation of the London bombings, the Washington Post reported.

'They pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him. He's dead,' witness Mark Whitby told the British Broadcasting Corp. 'He looked like a cornered fox. He looked petrified.' The suspect was wearing a heavy coat in 70-degree weather but not a backpack. He ran when initially pursued by police.

The shooting followed Thursday's botched copycat bombings in London, attempting to emulate the 7/7 attacks. Meanwhile, police in New York have started searching bags in the subways. Will that make riders feel more secure or only rachet up the fear factor?"

I hope that this wasn't just some nutty vagrant who wears all of his clothes no matter what the weather.

Condi Gets Gangsta

I'm not sure why she would have expected more from a government that has spent years raping women and slaughtering men, but Condi wasn't having it! I actually cannot recall an incident where American officials have been bullied like this but, in a rare instance of agreement, I am glad that Ms. Rice called them on their thuggish behavior and demanded an apology.

"Problems began when guards held up part of Rice's motorcade, stranding her Arabic-language translator, some senior aides and reporters at the gate.

When the officials were finally allowed through, some found themselves barred from entering the building for the meeting. As Rice senior adviser Jim Wilkinson tried to get in, guards repeatedly pushed and jostled him, and at one point he was shoved into a wall.

'Diplomacy 101 says you don't rough your guests up,' Wilkinson said afterward.

Reporters, whom guards reluctantly allowed into the meeting for a planned photo session, were harassed and elbowed, and guards repeatedly tried to rip a microphone away from a U.S. reporter.

Ambassador Khidir Haroun Ahmed, head of the Sudanese mission in Washington, attempted to smooth over the situation on the spot. 'Please accept our apologies,' he told reporters. 'This is not our policy.'

But there was another scuffle moments later.

The reporters were told not to ask questions, over State Department objections. When NBC diplomatic reporter Andrea Mitchell tried to ask el-Bashir about involvement with alleged atrocities, guards grabbed her and muscled her toward the rear of the room. Other reporters and a camera crew were also pushed out as Rice and el-Bashir watched.

'It makes me very angry to be sitting there with their president and have this happen,' Rice told reporters afterward. 'They have no right to push and shove.'"

Honestly! Who the heck do these hoodlums think they are (and do they know who they are messing with)?

What About The Boys?

Though this may seem like a good idea to some, what about the boys?

"A Ugandan member of parliament has pledged to reward girls for their chastity by paying their university fees if they are virgins when they leave school, a local newspaper said Wednesday.

Bbaale County MP Sulaiman Madada said any girl in his district who wanted to take part in the scheme aimed at promoting girls' education would be given a gynecological examination by health workers to check they were virgins.

'The criterion is that a student must be a virgin and from Kayunga district,' he told the state-owned New Vision.

The MP did not extend his offer to young men.

He urged pupils to manage their lives responsibly, and called on parents to explain the threats from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

'Our children should be told the risks they face if involved in early and unprotected sex,' Madada said.

Uganda was once seen as the epicenter of the global HIV epidemic, but a government education campaign has pushed down infection rates to around six percent from as high as 30 percent in some areas in the early 1990s.

Kayunga in central Uganda is home about 300,000 people, and researchers say it has one of the country's worst AIDS rates, with more than 80 percent of families losing at least one member to the disease."

It's not like these HIV/AIDS infested nations are known for valuing women or their chastity. Many times the young women are raped, abused and otherwise violated. I think more attention needs to be teaching men how to behave, how to protect themselves and how to treat women.

Can They Do That?

Gees! They buy a piece of IBM, were trying to buy Maytag and Unocal, are building up their military/arsenal and now China says it will pick the next Dali Lama?

In its latest and most serious ever attempt to interfere in Tibet's traditional system of recognising lamas, China has gone to the extent of saying that Beijing will choose the next Dalai Lama. Tibet Autonomous Region chairman Qiangba Puncog was quoted by Asianews/SCMP as saying that 'if the spiritual leader, who turned 70 on July 6, dies in exile, Beijing would follow Tibetan Buddhist precedent to choose his reincarnation.'

“The choice has never been arranged by the Chinese Communist Party, but by the traditional rules of Tibetan Buddhism since the Qing dynasty (i.e. since 1644),” he said at a press conference. But a precedent was set in 1995 when Beijing rejected the Dalai Lama’s choice of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama and installed instead Gyaltsen Norbu, added puncog, a Tibetan by birth.

The Tibetan government based in Dharamshala, however, has not yet reacted to Puncog's statement. China justified the move by invoking an 18th century practice that involves picking a name out of three inserted in a golden urn preserved in the Yunghegong (Lama Temple) in Beijing, the Asianews/SCMP reported.

Methinks China is getting out of control. The next thing we know, they'll be in the axis of evil too!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

But seriously, this is an interesting choice by someone who had a choice of a very different lifestyle.

"Famous Nepali model Kohinoor Singh has decided to become a Buddhist nun. She gained prominence through music video made by Music Nepal a few years ago. She said she had wanted to become a nun ever since her childhood days."

I wonder if I could ever do it.

Turning Back The Hands Of Time

This whole Supreme Court nomination has the blogsphere, and me, in a tizzy. Just like watching us steam roll into an illegal war in Iraq, I may be witnessing the dismantling of American justice as it has unfolded for me as a person of color and as a woman - just in my lifetime alone. I have far too many thoughts swirling in my head to express them adequately right now. So, I clipped Juan Cole's post today which outlines much of how I see things:

George W. Bush's nomination of John Roberts, Jr. is a setback for American women, just has his policies in Iraq have produced a setback for women's rights in the Arab world. Indeed, Bush has been bad for women all around the globe.

By nominating a man, Bush reduced the number of women on the Supreme Court. Sandra Day O'Connor is no progressive, but she knew what it was like to be locked out of the Old Boys Club, and she ruled in favor of women's issues like affirmative action and reproductive rights. Her feisty independence even led her to say that the Federal government had no business telling Californians they couldn't use marijuana for medical purposes.

She is being replaced by a man who has no sympathy for any of the things she stood for. In particular, he wants to have men dictate to women whether they will carry to term babies that men impregnate them with. If abortion ends up being outlawed altogether, it will mean that rapists can in essence force their victims to bear their babies. In short, the more absolute form of anti-reproductive rights philosophy is an active ally of these men against women (the daughters, nieces, wives and mothers of men):

The same juvenilization of women, the rendering of them wards of men, can be seen in Bush's Iraq. Contrary to the propaganda Bush's team is so good at producing, the secular, Arab nationalist Baath Party had passed some of the more progressive laws and regulations about women in the Middle East. Iraqi women in the 1970s had unprecedented opportunities for education and entry into the professions. The Bushies like to pose as liberators of Muslim women, but they have brought to power Muslim fundamentalists who are obsessed with subjugating women.

Ed Wong of the NYT reports that a draft of the new Iraqi constitution contains a provision that puts personal status law under the authority of religious judges. Marriage, divorce, inheritance and other such matters would be judged according to the religious law of the community to which the person belonged. This step would be a big set back for women's rights in Iraq.

In the kind of medieval interpretation of Islamic law being envisioned, women would get half the inheritance that their brothers do. Their testimony would be worth half that of men in court (making it almost impossible for a woman to convict her rapist). It would allow men to summarily divorce women but deprive women of any similar right to divorce their husbands. In Shiite Islam, it would bring back formally the practice of temporary marriage, whereby a man could contract with a woman for, say a two-week marriage while he was away from his usual family. The provision that a quarter of seats in the Iraqi parliament go to women will certainly be gotten rid of by the Muslim fundamentalists, now or later.

Bush and his officials have been scathingly critical of Iran's governmental system, including lack of rights for women. But they have cast the shadow of medieval jurisprudence over 15 million Iraqi women. And they are trying as hard as they can to ensure paternity rights for rapists here in the United States.

Billmon is excellent on who Roberts is and the implications of the nomination.

For those who think that America has ever been about liberty and justice for all, consider that since our inception, there have only been two women and two blacks on the Supreme Court. White men have been and will remain to be the keepers of the seats in the highest court in the land - at least for the forseeable future. How shameful it is that Canada currently has four women serving on their Supreme Court - including the Chief Justice? We're moving backwards folks and we can thank a warmonger and man who sold his soul to right wing extremists: President George W. Bush.

As Above, So Below

As seems to be the threat here in the United States, women in Iraq are at risk of losing the rights they had under Saddam and the Ba'ath regime. We already know that extremists are flexing their muscles in southern Iraq but now it seems as though subjugation may become the constitutional law of the land.

"A working draft of a chapter of the new Iraq constitution has language that gives a strong role to Islamic law and could be used to curb women's rights, particularly in personal matters like divorce and family inheritance.

The document's writers are also debating whether to drop a measure enshrined in the interim constitution, co-written last year by the Americans, that requires at least a quarter of the Parliament to be made up of women.

That clause helped establish the current Parliament as among the most progressive in the region, at least in regard to the proportion of female members.

If it holds, the shift away from the more secular and equitable language of the interim constitution would represent a victory for Shiite clerics and religious politicians, who now wield enormous power and had chafed at the influence exercised by the Americans over that earlier document.

The Americans had insisted that Islam be designated as just 'a source' of legislation, for example. Several writers of the new constitution say they intend to, at the very least, designate Islam as 'a main source' of legislation.

One clause in the chapter draft obtained by The New York Times on Tuesday says that the government guarantees equal rights for women, as long as those rights do not 'violate Shariah,' or Koranic law."

That'll Teach 'Em!

Does anyone else get sick of this cowboy, shoot 'em up mentality that has only served to cause more violence against us and our allies? This circus clown of a Congressman thinks we should blow up Mecca to retaliate against terrorism. Of course he says it's hypothetical but come on folks! Do we really need that kind of cuckoo rhetoric floating around out there?

"A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could 'take out' Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.

Rep. Tom Tancredo made his remarks Friday on WFLA-AM in Orlando, Florida. His spokesman stressed he was only speaking hypothetically.

Talk show host Pat Campbell asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.

'Well, what if you said something like -- if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites,' Tancredo answered.

'You're talking about bombing Mecca,' Campbell said.

'Yeah,' Tancredo responded."

Who elects these people? (Nevermind ...).

Ann Coulter Is Scurred

It is only on rare occassions that I will link to Ann Coulter (or that manic Malkin) but this is interesting. I thought she had complete trust in her fearless leader but it seems that she is just as afraid of the unknown when it comes to Bush's "quick draw" nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court.

After pretending to consider various women and minorities for the Supreme Court these past few weeks, President Bush decided to disappoint all the groups he had just ginned up and nominate a white male.

So all we know about him for sure is that he can't dance and he probably doesn't know who Jay-Z is. Other than that, he is a blank slate. Tabula rasa. Big zippo. Nada. Oh, yeah...we also know he's argued cases before the supreme court. big deal; so has Larry Flynt's attorney.

But unfortunately, other than that that, we don’t know much about John Roberts. Stealth nominees have never turned out to be a pleasant surprise for conservatives. Never. Not ever.

Since the announcement, court-watchers have been like the old Kremlinologists from Soviet days looking for clues as to what kind of justice Roberts will be. Will he let us vote?

Does he live in a small, rough-hewn cabin in the woods of New Hampshire and avoid "women folk"?

Does he trust democracy? Or will he make all the important decisions for us and call them “constitutional rights.”

She may be right. He may be a surprise win for progressives. Somehow I doubt it but I can dream.

No Fries For You!

If this is any indication of his legal prowess, let's just board the stuck on stupid train now.

"On the Supreme Court, John G. Roberts would be called on to deal with some of the loftiest issues of U.S. jurisprudence. During his career in Washington, D.C., he ruled on a case that hinged on one of the simplest of human actions: the eating of a single french fry.

Last October, Roberts spoke for the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia in the case of the girl who was arrested at the age of 12 after she was seen popping a french fry into her mouth in a Metro station.

Roberts, writing for himself and two other judges, upheld the constitutionality of the Oct. 23, 2000, arrest of Ansche Hedgepeth. Her encounter with the Metro Transit Police drew national attention and was frequently condemned as an example of law enforcement excess. The policy that led to her being handcuffed was later changed.

While upholding the legality of the Metro police action, Roberts showed that he did not necessarily give it his personal stamp of approval.

'A 12-year-old girl was arrested, searched and handcuffed,' he wrote. 'Her shoelaces were removed and she was transported in the windowless rear compartment of a police vehicle to a juvenile processing center, where she was booked, fingerprinted and detained until released to the custody of her mother, some three hours later � all for eating a single french fry in a Metro rail station.'

However, Roberts wrote, the question that came before him was not whether Metro's policies on enforcing a rule of no eating in its transit system were a good idea. What came before him on an appeal was whether Metro's policies violated Ansche's constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

The Court of Appeals, he wrote, concluded that they did not."

Did the Bush twins get handcuffed and arrested for attempting to use fake id's to buy alcohol?

Love, Peace and Butt Grease!

Ignorant? Misogynistic? Backwards? Vulgar? Nasty? Un-Christian? Conduct un-becoming of a Pastor?

I really don't know what to call this side show of a sermon that was delivered by Rev. Willie Wilson of the Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington D.C. a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if he was trying to be "'bout it, 'bout it" with his congregation but I hardly find this kind of "coon show" (yes, I said COON SHOW), appropriate for the pulpit or anyplace else when coming out of the mouth of a man who is supposed to be there to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ.

Rev. Willie Wilson
'You'’ve Got to Fight to Be Free'
Union Temple Baptist Church
July 3, 2005


"We live in a time when our brothers have been so put down, can’t get a job, lot of the sisters making more money than brothers. And it’s creating problems in families. That’s one of the reasons our families’ breaking up. And that’s one of the reasons many of our women are becoming lesbians.

You got to be careful when you say you don’t need no man. I can make it by myself. Well, if you don’t need a man, what’s left? Lesbianism is about to take over our community. I’m talking about young girls. My son in high school last year, trying to go to the prom, he said, ‘Dad, I ain’t got nobody to take to the prom because all the girls in my class are gay. There ain’t but two of them straight and both of them are ugly. I ain’t got nobody to take to the prom.’

Now, can I talk here? I ain’t homophobic, because everybody in here got something wrong with him. Whoever you point at, you can point at your own self. You got something wrong with your life. But when you get down to this thing, women falling down on another woman, strapping yourself up with something, it ain’t real. That thing ain’t got no feeling in it. It ain’t natural.

Any time somebody got to slap some grease on your behind, and stick something in you, it’s something wrong with that. Your butt ain’t made for that. [Audience shouts and yells its approval in the background.] You got blood vessels and membranes in your behind. And if you put something unnatural in there, it breaks them all up. No wonder your behind is bleeding. It’s destroying us.

Can’t make no connection with a screw and another screw. The Bible says God made them male and female. The Hebrew word "neged," which means complementary nature — there is something unique to man and unique to woman and it takes those two things to complement each other. You can’t make a connection with two screws. It takes a screw and a nut! (shouting)."

Aside from the totally fallacious reasoning and flawed conclusions, it just shows that he, like many other ministers, are willing to use vile language and imagerey to incite and inspire their audiences. I thought preachers were supposed to be teachers but from this sermon he'd have me believe:

• In line with the sexist rhetoric of many of his fellow ministers/religious conservatives, women are to blame for the destruction of the family.
  
• Women who are independent and well-paid have no choice but to become lesbians because they don't need men who make less money.
  
• His son, who obviously was taught that only "pretty" women are worthy, cannot find a prom date because all but two "ugly" girls in his class are lesbians.
  
• Church is the appropriate environment to discuss greased butts and strap ons.
  
• Bleeding butts are the ruination of the black community.
  

Our community is in trouble, alright. But people like the (very,I'm sure) Reverend Willie Wilson are part of the problem -- not the solution.

U.N.I.T.Y

Umoja means unity and unifying is what these women decided to do after fleeing abusive relationships with their husbands and families. Much to the chagrin of the abusive men in their lives, they built a thriving village with successful and profitable enterprises. Unfortunately, the sour grapes at seeing these women happy and self-sufficient is bringing out the violent nature of their patriarchal counterparts.

A group of Kenyan women who fled abusive husbands to set up their own women-only community are facing increasingly violent attacks by local men angry at their success.

Turning traditional African patriarchy on its head, 15 women established Umoja village in 1990, as a refuge after their husbands' behaviour forced them to flee their homes.

Since then the village where women rule has expanded, its 48 members earning a living selling tourists brightly-coloured bead necklaces unique to their tribe, the Samburu.

However this revolution in their midst has outraged elders in the nearest town, Archer's Post, one dusty street lined with two dozen wooden shacks, in a scorched valley 200 miles north of Nairobi.

Angry young men with no money in their pockets now stop minibuses taking tourists to the nearby Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves, warning drivers against stopping at Umoja.

Gangs a dozen strong have mounted daytime raids through the thorn fence circling the village, chasing the women into the bush, beating them with clubs and threatening to torch their stick-and-dung homes.

"We do not have peace in the village now. These men are so angry because we have money and we do not give them any," said Rebecca Lolosoli, 43, Umoja's de facto chief and one of its founders.

"We ran away first because we were being beaten and now we are trying to change our lives, we are being beaten again because of how we are doing well."

I think we see milder forms of this here in America. The religious right is blaming independent women for everything from the 9/11 attacks to obesity. I also think that same mentality is what fueled the zealousness behind the prosecution of Martha Stewart. So, while many are outraged at the violence against these abused women for "making it without a man," we also need to look at the similar history that has always been a part of America's male dominated society as well as the push, by some, to take it back there.