Tuesday - May 01, 2012
Now let us pray, but just leave god out of it.
How’s that for a headline?
The council that kept its prayers – by dropping God
A council has dropped references to God from the prayer with which it opens meetings, under pressure from secularist campaigners.By Jasper Copping
For as long as anyone can remember, councillors in Gloucestershire have stood up for a brief prayer before their meetings get under way.
But when three agnostic and atheist members staged a protest against the historic practice by remaining seated, the chairman decided something must be done to retain council unity.
So he hit upon an apparently ingenious solution: from now on, the prayer would still be said – but with all references to God removed.
So rather than asking “may He give us wisdom to carry out our duties ...”, the chairman now states “may we find the wisdom ...” - and the “prayer” still ends with the chairman leading other members in saying “amen”.
The authority is one of dozens across Britain which have recently scrapped or significantly altered their custom of saying prayers at the start of meetings under pressure from secular campaigners, who argue the practice breaches their human rights and excludes non-believers and people from other faiths.
I don’t know what percentage of the population is made up of non-believers or agnostics. I don’t even think it should matter. I also think these folks doing all the shouting out of all proportion to whatever numbers they add up to, are fakes. They are looking for issues and the majority are caving into them every time.
How are my human rights violated if I’m in a place where a prayer is conducted? Never bothered me. Never felt ‘excluded’ or any of the other phony, I’m a victim
maladies. But we need to be fair. These ppl are doing their jobs. Right? They are, “activists.”
Where the hell’s that gun?
See the link for more on this story.
Posted by peiper
on 05/01/2012 at 10:09 AM
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Permalink • here’s an idea. keep bad teachers on the job but payem less. say what?
A MUST share if I only posted the headline I saw in one morning paper today.
I know newspapers have to grab our attention, and sometime the headlines do not always square with the actual story.
However, where unions are involved in any step whatever in the process, you’ll almost always find a snake pit.
Here’s the headline.
BAD TEACHERS SHOULD BE PAID LESS, SAY MINISTERS.
Hey, wait a minute. How many parents will welcome bad teachers at any price?
Does anyone know any parents anywhere that would? I betcha even union heads want the best (left wing) teachers for their offspring. But yours? Maybe not.
In the last 18 months only one of five teachers judged to be incompetent was sacked.
And he or she had to be pretty bad for the teachers union to allow that.
MPs back plan for performance-related pay in schools
Weak teachers could be paid less than the very best performers under Government plans to improve standards of state education, it has emerged.
By Graeme Paton, Education EditorMinisters are considering plans to create a clearer link between pay and classroom performance as part of a new drive to boost results and attract the best graduates into the profession.
The disclosure came as a cross-party group of MPs warned that a new system of performance-related pay was needed to stop the worst teachers hiding behind a “rigid and unfair” national salary structure.
It follows warnings from Ofsted last year that teaching was not good enough in more than four-in-10 schools, with “dull” lessons leading to poor standards of classroom behaviour.
Last night, it emerged that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has already written to the national body that reviews teachers’ salaries to seek advice on how the Government can “strengthen the link between pay and performance”.But the move has been attacked by teaching unions who are strongly opposed to any attempt to dismantle national rules on pay and conditions.
They have already threatened strike action over proposals to introduce regional pay rates across the public sector.
But the cross-party committee’s report said: “No longer should the weakest teachers be able to hide behind a rigid and unfair pay structure.
But why keep weak teachers at all? At any price?
Some students will do well in spite of teachers. They are exceptions and there are always those. But not by huge numbers. Kids need the best they can get in schools and especially in the world we have today. 2nd rate is just not good enough. Been a very long time since I attended school, so I’m not an expert on the subject. My uneducated guess is that most teachers are up to the mark. The sexy stories that concern the bad ones give the impression that the entire profession is populated by second rate failures.
But it’s certain as well that as long as unions protect the less worthy, things won’t much improve.
Posted by peiper
on 05/01/2012 at 09:45 AM
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Permalink • a socialist conservative party?
This Conservative Party is more socialist than any government I have seen in my lifetime
By Peter Mullen, PoliticsThe Rev Dr Peter Mullen is a priest of the Church of England and former Rector of St Michael, Cornhill and St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London. He has written for many publications including the Wall Street Journal.
The Tories will not recover from the catastrophic election defeat which faces them this week. They don’t deserve to – because they have spent the last two years alienating their core supporters. These supporters, of whom I used to be one, are very largely old-fashioned, traditional middle class voters. I suppose we can be described as “respectable” – before, as GK Chesterton said, that word became very unrespectable.
What we old Tories stand for is the defence of the realm against foreign enemies and the maintenance of law and order at home. In these matters the Tory party under Cameron has betrayed us. The armed forces have been run down, even to the extremity of a proposal that we might have to share an aircraft carrier with the French – thus prompting the question of what we do with our half of it when their half surrenders.
One person posting under comments took serious issue with the remark, very funny tho it was, about the French and surrender.
conchobar said:
I get very irritated when I see the French get slagged off
once again about their defeat and surrender in 1940. The author shows serious
ignorance regarding the strategic realities facing both Britain and France in
1940 – they faced an unequal battle from the moment that Germany and the Soviet
Union signed their non-aggression pact permitting Germany to throw its entire
military weight against the West as Stalin clearly intended (hoping for a long
war in the West which would enervate all his enemies simultaneously!). The
rapid collapse of the Allied armies spared Britain and France the terrible losses suffered in the First World War.
The subsequent horrendous losses suffered by the Soviet Union were largely
caused by Stalin’s own savagery, incompetence and meddling. In 1940 France did not
have the luxury of a 25 mile wide anti-tank ditch behind which it could wait until
the strategic balance of forces became more favourable. I acknowledge that the Vichy regime was far too
enthusiastic to cooperate with its victorious enemy but that is a separate
matter.
The Rev. Mullen continues:
The riots of last summer are all the evidence we need to prove that the government cannot maintain law and order.
Boris Johnson says the government should go in for “more tax cuts.” More in addition to what? There have been no significant tax cuts. In fact every week there are proposals for ever more inventive methods of extorting money from the hardworking and the thrifty. I actually find myself paying tax on my meagre pension. Tories used to believe in supporting industry, both private and corporate, and rewarding thrift. Not any longer. We are taxed to the hilt, and industry is hamstrung by more and more regulation. Does Dave really think that the way to electoral success is by the systematic impoverishment of the middle class?
So what does Cameron’s Tory party stand for? It stands for massive state spending on failed institutions such as the NHS and what is laughably called state education. It funds, out of the taxes of the hardworking and the thrifty, a profligate public sector and a bloated welfarist culture. While turning its back on traditional Tory values, the modern – Oh yes, how very modern! – Conservative party is obsessed with the promotion of outlandish minority and sectarian causes.
In other words, Dave’s Tory party is more socialist than any socialist government I have seen in my lifetime. Why should I, or any other conservative-minded person vote for it?
Of course the obvious answer and the one he’s looking for is, no one should.
And I can easily understand his feeling. BUT … as we all know and I am not defending Mr. Cameron, nor is it my place to do so, and as someone else has pointed out in reply to his column, this is a coalition govt. The cons couldn’t gather together enough votes to form a conservative govt. However, be that as it may, the PM nevertheless strikes me as not being totally committed and really is consv. lite in his heart of hearts. Or that’s how he impresses me anyway.
Here’s someone else’s take on it.
jacko2012 said:
I think he fails to realise that the government in place is not the Conservative party, its a compromise government made up of LibDem and Conservative.
The LibDems would be failing as any credible party if they were not able to hold the Conservatives to their compromise that they agreed when they formed the joint government shortly after the last election.
But I do accept that the conservatives are nothing like the party of past years. Everything these days in the UK has to be ‘middle of the road’ politics that never seems to get us anywhere. So all the policies are based around VERY CENTER left & right views.
The problem is that the mainstream media is backed up with powerful lobby groups, be that unions, investors etc. that always stop politics in the form of public opinion at least from straying away from centre and towards the left or right.
It is a shame, but I would say the vast majority of the UK public follow the opinions of the likes of BBC news, Sky news, tabloids etc. etc. and as these media groups look for ‘stories’ they give an un-balanced amount of voice to the minorities......and this is what is keeping the UK from making any real progress on politics. As everything has to be centred in order to keep everyone happy,......even though the media portray the unbalanced voice of the minority views.
So its no wonder that Cameron is now very centred in politics...the party has indeed moved a significant way to the left from what it was, but how can we get anything different these days? Vote for another centered party? Because the media don’t like the others.
Posted by peiper
on 05/01/2012 at 09:09 AM
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Permalink • Even Science Follows The Rules
Well, one of them anyway:
Internet Rule 34: If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.
In 2009 four of the world’s last seven northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) were moved from a zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. At the time conservationists expressed hope that returning the rhinos to semi-wild lives under their native African skies would help inspire the animals to mate and, if they were extremely lucky, save the species from extinction.
No such luck. There were a few half-hearted couplings in early 2011, neither of which resulted in pregnancies, but for the most part, the rhinos showed little to no interest in breeding. Maybe they had spent too much time in captivity. Maybe they were getting old. Maybe they just sensed that they were the last of their kind and wanted to go quietly into the night.
But now something incredible has happened. Not only have two rhinos suddenly started expressing interest in each other, they have actually gone ahead and mated. Ol Pejeta Conservancy posted this bow-chicka-wow-wow video on April 30
Oh no. I’m not posting that video. If you want hot rhino jungle action you’ll have to follow the link. But it turns out that what got Mr. Big Horn’s interest up was straight out of a Vivid Video: the rhino fluffers brought in several other lady rhinos to get those herd boss juices flowing. And when he realized he could have a three-way, or even a four-way ... well ... bow-chicka-wow-wow, boom boom. Bow-chicka-wow-wow, boom boom.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/01/2012 at 08:06 AM
Filed Under: • Animals • Computers and Cyberspace • Fun-Stuff •
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Permalink • Moon-a-geddon!
Skywatchers take note: The biggest full moon of the year is due to arrive this weekend.
The moon will officially become full Saturday (May 5) at 11:35 p.m. EDT. And because this month’s full moon coincides with the moon’s perigee — its closest approach to Earth — it will also be the year’s biggest.
The moon will swing in 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from our planet, offering skywatchers a spectacular view of an extra-big, extra-bright moon, nicknamed a supermoon.
And not only does the moon’s perigee coincide with full moon this month, but this perigee will be the nearest to Earth of any this year, as the distance of the moon’s close approach varies by about 3 percent, according to meteorologist Joe Rao, SPACE.com’s skywatching columnist. This happens because the moon’s orbit is not perfectly circular.
This month’s full moon is due to be about 16 percent brighter than average. In contrast, later this year on Nov. 28, the full moon will coincide with apogee, the moon’s farthest approach, offering a particularly small and dim full moon.
To see it to the best effect, catch the moon low on the horizon with some intervening object in your foreground to enhance the optical illusion. Or just go sit on your roof and howl. Whatever floats your boat.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/01/2012 at 07:57 AM
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Permalink • A Hole In The News
Can we say the “V” word now? And the “Q” one too? It’s Obama’s Vietnam! It’s a Quagmire we can’t win!!
The U.S.-led coalition routinely reports each time an American or other foreign soldier is killed by an Afghan in uniform. But The Associated Press has learned it does not report insider attacks in which the Afghan wounds — or misses — his U.S. or allied target. It also doesn’t report the wounding of troops who were attacked alongside those who were killed.
Such attacks reveal a level of mistrust and ill will between the U.S.-led coalition and its Afghan counterparts in an increasingly unpopular war. The U.S. and its military partners are working more closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility to them by the end of 2014.
In recent weeks an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of American soldiers but missed the group entirely. The Americans quickly shot him to death. Not a word about this was reported by the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, as the coalition is formally known. It was disclosed to the AP by a U.S. official who was granted anonymity in order to give a fuller picture of the “insider” problem.
ISAF also said nothing about last week’s attack in which two Afghan policemen in Kandahar province fired on U.S. soldiers, wounding two. Reporters learned of it from Afghan officials and from U.S. officials in Washington. The two Afghan policemen were shot to death by the Americans present.
Just last Wednesday, an attack that killed a U.S. Army special forces soldier, Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Brittonmihalo, 25, of Simi Valley, Calif., also wounded three other American soldiers. The death was reported by ISAF as an insider attack, but it made no mention of the wounded — or that an Afghan civilian also was killed.
The attacker was an Afghan special forces soldier who opened fire with a machine gun at a base in Kandahar province. He was killed by return fire.
That attack apparently was the first by a member of the Afghan special forces, who are more closely vetted than conventional Afghan forces and are often described by American officials as the most effective and reliable in the Afghan military.
Coalition officials do not dispute that such non-fatal attacks happen, but they have not provided a full accounting.
Effing wonderful. Tell me again why are we there? Why we spent a decade and nearly built them a whole new nation while supporting the first actual elected government they’d ever had? Schools, highways, hospitals, etc. There sure seems mighty grateful.
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/01/2012 at 07:40 AM
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Permalink • The Commie Comes Out
New Obama campaign slogan is direct borrow from Euro Commie movements of the past.
As is, of course, the “Progressive” label, long used as cover term for commie/fascist/socialist groups.
The Obama campaign apparently didn’t look backwards into history when selecting its new campaign slogan, “Forward” — a word with a long and rich association with European Marxism. [ want to bet? they damn well did. they’re just so stunningly arrogant that you can’t accept it. ]
Many Communist and radical publications and entities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries had the name “Forward!” or its foreign cognates. Wikipedia has an entire section called “Forward (generic name of socialist publications).”
“The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other left-wing newspapers and publications,” the online encyclopedia explains.
The slogan “Forward!” reflected the conviction of European Marxists and radicals that their movements reflected the march of history, which would move forward past capitalism and into socialism and communism.
Vladimir Lenin founded the publication “Vpered” (the Russian word for “forward") in 1905. Soviet propaganda film-maker Dziga Vertov made a documentary whose title is sometimes translated as “Forward, Soviet” (though also and more literally as “Stride, Soviet").
Conservative critics of the Obama administration have noted numerous ties to radicalism and socialists throughout Mr. Obama’s history, from his first political campaign being launched from the living room of two former Weather Underground members, to appointing as green jobs czar Van Jones, a self-described communist.
And when, or even if, this blows up in his face, the media will claim it was a complete misunderstanding that never meant any of that evil Red Scare stuff ever never not once. And it will get swept under the bus and ignored. But it does mean what it means, and anyone with a lick of sense can see that. What’s next, a slogan to show the poor folks that they can Move On and push Forward! off of welfare by their own hard efforts and thereby find economic independence? “Work Makes You Free!” (aka ”Arbeit Macht Frei”). No negative connotations or connections to history there either. I’m sure his legions of hard working but befuddled Jewish supporters will rally to that one.
One thing I can say about Obama: from his 2008 rally with it’s fake Olympian columns, to his Office of the President Elect complete with it’s own seal, to this slogan, and more; the man’s audacity is greater than any Caeser that ever lived. Forget four parts; Obama has enough gall to be divided into twelve.
And most of the population doesn’t have a freakin’ clue.
PS - it is no coincidence AT ALL that the media, who in their political coverage used to swap red and blue every other election to denote states won by Republicans or Democrats, settled some years ago for red for the Republicans. Just to muddy the waters that extra little bit, to lessen the long appropriate association between the Pinko Party and that similar but bolder color.
Posted by Drew458
on 05/01/2012 at 07:02 AM
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Permalink • Sunday - April 29, 2012
nice rack but no votes say college uptights. college just ain’t fun anymore.
This is an update to a story posted about a month ago, or slightly less. Thought it was all over and forgot about it. Well apparently some have not forgotten.
This is in ref. to a young college girl with a sense of humor. I guess the post of Librarian of the Oxford Union is an elected one and she ran for the position.
Her tongue in cheek slogan was “Vote for me, I have a great rack.” Well. Even some men it’s been reported, were offended. Orf wiv er ed.
OK, maybe she was out of line. They say she was, I think they need to chill out but it isn’t me umble self that gets to make those momentice decisions.
So as I said at the top, her slogan was not forgot. Nope. An open and shut case of, Forget about it. You forget about it, I’ll forget about it, we’ll both forget about it,
but I’ll remember and don’t you forget it.
Model disciplined in Oxford University sexism rowA former model involved in a sexism row at Oxford University is hauled before a disciplinary committee.
By Richard Eden
When Madeline Grant made a light-hearted reference to her breasts in her application to be the Librarian of the Oxford Union, she hoped that it would prick the pomposity of those undergraduates who took themselves too seriously.
The 19-year-old former model has, however, now discovered just how seriously the officials at the Union, whose past presidents include Sir Edward Heath and Boris Johnson, take the sexism row.
Mandrake can disclose that the English student at St Hilda’s College is to be hauled before a disciplinary committee on Wednesday, charged with bringing the Union into disrepute.
“It’s ridiculous,” says Grant, the daughter of the former BBC sports presenter Sally Jones. “At great expense, they are paying for former Union officials to come to Oxford and sit on the committee which will decide my fate.”
In February, the alumna of King Edward VI High School for Girls posted election material for the position which contained a reference to her breasts. “I don’t hack, I just have a great rack,” she wrote.
This prompted a much-talked-about row among her fellow Union members. The comments, which were contained in a “draft manifesto” that was posted on an official Union noticeboard as part of her election material, were condemned as “deeply offensive”.
She tells me: “I’m wondering if I should leave the Union. The main speakers they have lined up are Geri Halliwell and Nelly Furtado, so I wouldn’t miss much.” Ouch.
EVERYTHING just HAS to have an ISM.
So where’s the ‘sexism’ here? Oh right. Some woman’s group is also offended saying she defamed their fair sex.
The men are offended cos they’re probably the type who want racks but can’t have em without surgery, and the feminazis ??????? I guess they’re just offended because they think they should be. Actually, there really aren’t all that many who are bothered. But in these times it does not take a lot. Even one will do.
Posted by peiper
on 04/29/2012 at 12:01 PM
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Permalink • The claustrophobia of diversity.
I am amazed and impressed by this site I found on the recommendation of someone. ENGLAND CALLING A blog site run by Robert Henderson, who I had not heard of till today. But this site and all the links will I am certain keep me pretty busy.
It is I guess a repeat but better said, of things I’ve been ranting about since coming here. LyndonB has also brought up the subject(s) herein.
With regard to the video. I watched it without the music, if it can be called music. Don’t like having my ears assaulted and it loses nothing minus what I call sound effects and many refer to as music. Be all that as it may, it’s the message that counts no matter the background noise.
Yes, it is from one perspective. But I honestly believe it’s the one correct perspective.
This country is really in serious trouble as I view things. It will only be a matter of time before the left has its way and triumphs, destroying forever a culture and tradition that has survived bombs and plagues and home grown terror attacks during “the troubles” which btw, seem to be alive still with the discovery the other day of a 600 pound bomb.
What I have posted below is a very much altered editorial. By that I mean, it’s long but interesting and I had to crop a bit. I suppose I could have done even more but this give you one heck of an idea what this island faces. Sadly and depressingly, I don’t hold out much hope for a future I won’t be around to see anyway. I personally know a few people, not at all bad folks by any means, but to hear them talk about diversity and the benefits of multi-culture and keep in mind, they honestly believe that idiocy. You can see why I think they’re doomed. These folks vote, and so will all those ‘diverse’ and multi cultured immigrants who listen to the lure of the left who pamper them and pay homage to their various imported cultures which in time will supplant the native one.
A Nation in search of a State
This week witnessed the death of Ray Honeyford, the former Bradford Headmaster who had the integrity to speak the truth about the ruinous consequences of multiculturalism, and paid for this with his career. Honeyford, like Enoch Powell, was an outspoken and prescient man of principle who paid a heavy price for speaking the truth. Vilified, scapegoated and threatened with death, this good man was to be proven right, despite the professional naysayers within the race relations and ‘diversity’ industry. Alas, Honeyford has not been the only individual to have had their career destroyed for the sake of protecting the multiculturalist diversity dogma, although other cases have usually received less publicity or none at all.In the same week that Honeyford died, we witnessed Neil O’Brien of Policy Exchange writing a piece in The Telegraph and appearing on Radio 4 talking about the “challenges” of “integration” now that English first language speakers are in a minority in London schools. This in itself is bad enough, but it is also something of a jolt to learn that 16.8% of all state primary schoolchildren in 2011 had “English as an additional language”. This prompted O’Brien to pose the following questions:
“But will children with English as a second language grow up to feel British, to get jobs and to feel included?I think that is the bigger challenge, and the statistics above make me think it is a likely to be a rapidly growing one.”
what we English in particular feel increasingly uneasy with and alarmed about is the mass scale of the immigrant influx and the demographic fecundity of the immigrant population. This theme has very much been in the air this week, with Alasdair Palmer of The Telegraph penning a piece entitled ‘Multiculturalism has left Britain with a toxic legacy’. This conclusion is one that is difficult to disagree with. However, when it comes to the question of “integration”, it strikes me that mainstream commentators are rather missing the point.
The size of the immigrant population is now such that it is not possible to integrate it effectively. Whereas immigration pre-1948 was on a relatively small scale and those who arrived largely assimilated and blended into the indigenous population, what has occurred since has not so much been mass immigration, but mass colonisation. London is now effectively a non-English city, and I no longer regard it as our capital in any meaningful sense, for it has become another land (this transformation was examined in the earlier article Celebrities note the Death of London). Given this fact, why should we wish to “integrate” with incomers who by dint of their numbers threaten not only to displace us, but also to replace us? The task is not so much “integration” as “preservation” of our native peoples and their rights.
Before closing, I shall return to Ray Honeyford and an article penned by Leo Mckinstry for the Daily Mail. In this, it is clear that Mckinstry disapproves of today’s race legislation, and its attendant repressive professional apparatus that justifies its existence through creating an “atmosphere of synthetic outrage”. Mckinstry writes:
“When Honeyford wrote his article, he was branded a heretic. His words had to be suppressed, his influence crushed. But that did not stop him being right.”“In the name of promoting tolerance, race-fixated zealots exercise the most extreme intolerance, suppressing free debate and indulging in witch-hunts against anyone who dissents from their creed of multi-cultural diversity.”
PLEASE SEE THE FULL ACCOUNT HERE
Posted by peiper
on 04/29/2012 at 06:02 AM
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Daily Life • UK •
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Permalink • evil makes its own rules and calls it ‘honor’
Here but not really up to much last few days.
Came across this a week ago, should have posted earlier but better late then .....
This is an obit that appeared in the Telegraph.
If one picture is worth a thousand words to describe the demented low life that caused this, then I shouldn’t even have to post the obit itself.
I can’t recall where I saw this quote but it sure applies here and I believe throughout the islamic world. And not just there either. But this sort of thing is endemic to them.
EVIL DOES NOT OBEY THE RULE OF LAW. EVIL MAKES ITS OWN RULES.
FAKHRA YOUNUS
Fakhra Younus, who has committed suicide aged 33, gave a face to the thousands of Pakistani women who are disfigured as a result of acid attacks, typically carried out by husbands who accuse their wives of dishonouring them; her attacker has not been brought to justice.
That photo may look pretty bad but there’s worse that wasn’t included in the on line version. For the sub human life forms that think there is ‘honor’ in this kind of thing, it’s just business as usual.
Hers wasn’t a nice story to begin with. It should never have happened and in a more civilized culture, it wouldn’t.
Born to a heroin-addicted mother on Napier Road in Karachi’s red-light district, probably in 1978, Fakhra Younus was 18 and working as a “dancing girl” (a euphemism for a prostitute) when she met Bilil Khar, a former Member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab and son of a former Punjab governor, Ghulam Mustafa Khar. The Khar family owns vast swathes of farmland in the province and is a major political force in Pakistan. A cousin of Bilal’s is Pakistan’s current Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar. When he met Fakhra, Bilal Khar had already been married and divorced three times and was married at the time to a fourth wife with whom he had two children, facts of which Fakhra was unaware.
The two married after six months, but, by her account, from the very start her husband subjected her to a sustained campaign of sexual, physical and verbal abuse that lasted three years before she eventually escaped and moved back to live with her mother. But her peace did not last long.
On the afternoon of May 14 2000 she was disturbed by an intruder. She later said she had been asleep in her drawing room when she heard a man’s voice telling her: “Fakhra ... Fakhra wake up!” “I jerked as he held me by my hair and opened my mouth. Because I resisted he couldn’t get me to swallow. But then he threw something on me. At first I thought it was a joke. I did not understand what had happened to me. Then he left, so I ran after him. My house was on the second floor and by the time I got to the first floor, I realised I could not see.”
Feeling her clothes melting to her body, she collapsed on the floor, screaming. By the time the acid had done its work the hair had been burned off her head; her lips had fused together; her left ear was obliterated; she had been blinded in one eye; and her breasts had melted to the bone. She could breathe only with extreme difficulty. When her four-year-old son, Nauman, first visited her in a crowded public hospital, where she remained for the next three months, he ran away crying.
Fakhra’s family sought to prosecute Khar for attempted murder and the case came to court in 2003. Although four witnesses testified to seeing him enter Fakhra’s home on the day of the attack, all later retracted their statements. They had complained of receiving death threats, but the judge in the case took no notice and in December 2003 he dismissed the charges. Khar continued to protest his innocence, claiming the perpetrator was a pimp with whom his wife had been having an affair.
After her release from hospital Fakhra Younus found that she had become a liability to her family, for whom she had once been a source of income. She and her son were subsequently taken in by Tehmina Durrani, a stepmother of Bilal’s and a women’s rights activist who had chronicled “the Khars’ way of treating women” in her book My Feudal Lord, in which she described the abuse meted out to her by her ex-husband, Ghulam Mustafa Khar.
In 2001, after some difficulty (the government, concerned about Pakistan’s image abroad, dragged its heels over issuing a passport), Tehmina Durrani helped Fakhra to move to Rome where, over the next 11 years, she underwent 39 major operations. By the 38th operation, in 2011, she could move her mouth and one eye, and her face, though still badly disfigured, had regained some of its shape. By this time she had learned Italian and co-written a memoir, Il Volto Cancellato (“The Erased Face”), which brought in some income to add to a monthly disability allowance from the Italian government.
But the operations exacted a heavy psychological toll, and she was said to be depressed by the impossibility of returning to Pakistan, where friends were worried that her life would be in danger.
On March 17 Fakhra Younus climbed to the sixth-floor balcony of her apartment building in Rome and jumped. In a suicide note she gave her reason as “the silence of law on the atrocities and insensitivity of Pakistani rulers”.
News of her death arrived in Pakistan as the country was celebrating its first Oscar — awarded to the Karachi film-maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy for Saving Face, a documentary focusing on victims of acid attacks. As Fakhra’s coffin arrived for burial, protesters were demanding that the case against Bilal Khar be reopened.
But Khar continued to deny that he bore any responsibility for his wife’s death: “My hands are clean,” he told interviewers. Fakhra Younus is survived by her son, who is in the care of an Italian family.
Posted by peiper
on 04/29/2012 at 03:14 AM
Filed Under: • Crime • Justice - LACK OF • muslims • OBITITUARIES •
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Permalink • Saturday - April 28, 2012
Fun With Anagrams
Anagrams: rearrange the letters to come up with new words and phrases. Add whatever punctuation you need.
PRESBYTERIAN:
When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER
DESPERATION:
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE
GEORGE BUSH:
When you rearrange the letters:
HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE:
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS
DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY:
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY
ELECTION RESULTS:
When you rearrange the letters:
LIES - LET’S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Z ‘S
A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
I’M A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THAT QUEER SHAKE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE
MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange the letters:
WOMAN HITLER
AMERICAN PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
When you rearrange the letters:
STUMBLING CLUSTERFUCK OF A MISERABLE FAILURE
Posted by Drew458
on 04/28/2012 at 02:52 PM
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •
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Permalink • More Jus Than OJ
Oh Lord, here we go again. It seems that some folks think that Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio might be on the short list for Mitt Romney’s choice of Vice Presidental candidate. So naturally the LLL (Lunatic Loser Left) is trying to disqualify the guy, crowing that he isn’t eligible because he isn’t a Natural Born Citizen. Golly, didn’t we go through this crap TWICE with John McCain? And hasn’t the LLL and the MSM spent more than 3 years now lambasting those sicko Birthers on the Right for trying to make the same case against Obama, even when their claim may be far more valid? That’s why I dug up the “LLL” term, one that we used to use way back in the day when McAmnesty was running the first time around.
Ok, I live under a rock apparently. I was completely unaware that such a movement to discredit Marc Rubio existed. But GOP author, historian, and public speaker Michael Zak wasn’t, and he emailed me a link to his latest essay over at Human Events where he says Rubio is Natural Born, and urges the Republican party to get past such allegations and get behind this probable VP candidate. Unfortunately he uses the “Chester A. Arthur was president, so it’s Ok for Rubio too” approach, which any child can immediately see as the standard Mom pitch of “If all your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge ...”. I’m not sure the debate over Arthur’s Natural Born-ness is over yet, and he was president over 125 years ago.
I have to disagree in part with Mr. Zak. We’ve exchanged several emails on the subject. Nice and cordial, as is our wont. No reason to be act like deranged Democrats. And reading his responses has caused me to look a bunch of things up, and to reform my opinion. That’s what healthy debate should be, right?
Marco Rubio’s parents came from Cuba. They did not become American Citizens until a few years after he was born. Marco was born in Miami. So, is he thus a Natural Born citizen, or even a citizen at all? That question does relate to the whole Birther thing, but more importantly it relates to the bigger Anchor Baby thing.
Zak feels that the language of the 14th Amendment grants instant citizenship to Marco on his birth. This is what lawyers call the Jus Soli viewpoint; being On The Soil is all that is necessary. [ as opposed to jus sanguinis, citizenship from the parents ] Being rather a Strict Constructionist myself, I countered that the 14th clearly does not say that at all, what with the “subject to jurisdiction” clause. I backed up that view with excerpts from the Congressional Record, which contain the explanation of the Senator who wrote the citizenship clause to the 14th Amendment when it was first being debated (lower half of center column) wherein he specifically says that this does not apply to foreigners who just happen to be here.
I could have linked to several Ann Coulter essays where she says pretty much the same thing:
The very author of the citizenship clause, Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan, expressly said: “This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers.”
Zak’s response was that it didn’t matter so much what the Senator meant, the opinions of everyone else mattered more. This left me a bit non-plussed, sitting there with my head tilted to one side the way your dog looks at you when he can’t figure out what on earth you’re doing, making sounds like Scooby-Doo. This is the scene from Rodney Dangerfield’s movie Back to School where the professor flunks him for his paper on Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House, which he had hired Kurt Vonnegut to write, and tells him “whoever wrote this paper doesn’t know the first thing about Vonnegut.” Harrooo?
So I took a different approach. Rubio’s parents came from Cuba, and he was born here in 1971. I had heard his parents only became citizens 4 years after he was born. Cuba, 1971: it was natural to assume his folks were refugees.
Back in 1885 the Supreme Court reached a decision in the United States v. Wong Kim Ark case, which effectively (and rather retroactively) granted citizenship at birth to that person based on the 14th Amendment AND his parent’s status of Permanent Resident, their current employment, and their having a permanent place to live (domicile). Ah ha.
The Cuban Refugee Act of 1966 gave permanent resident status to all Cuban exiles. [ except later for Elián González ] So if his folks had escaped the Bearded One, then Wong Kim Ark ought to apply, right? Well yes, but then again, no. Rubio’s parents were not exiles in the normal sense. Even though Marco has spoken about the plight of the Cubanos in Florida, and shown solidarity with their movement, it turns out that - to his own surprise! - he isn’t really one of them. His parents came over here in 1956, before Castro came to power. So while he grew up with them, he wasn’t legally part of that group, even though he thought he was. But his parents were legal residents, permanent ones. Heck, his grandfather, an emigre, used to go back and forth between Cuba and Florida all the time, and only got in trouble for it once. Things were a bit different in those days! So the refugee angle doesn’t work.
But the permanent resident angle does. I’m pretty sure. Someone with better knowledge of the world of the Green Card please correct me, but I’m fairly sure that the child of permanent legal residents becomes an American citizen at birth. By pure jus soli and by only a small stretching of jus sanguinis, because of the domicile aspect of Wong Kim Ark. And that makes Marc Rubio a properly Natural Born citizen. And Michael Zak has arrived at the right conclusion by almost the right path. Good enough for me, and I hope he accepts my Wong refinement as right. [ ooh, I just missed that oh so tempting little landmine!! 
]
On the other hand, if I am wrong about the children born here of legal residents, then Marco Rubio should be passed by for the VP slot. Find someone else. We had enough of this mess with the fallacy of the John McCain situation, twice. And - justified or not, and I lean to the justified side - the Birther situation with Obama has been 100 times as divisive. I’d really like to get past that with our next crop of leaders. What would really help would be a clear statement from the Supremes on just who is and who ain’t Natural Born. The 14th Amendment has already suffered more than any other Amendment, being nearly gutted by Slaughter House Cases amongst others. While I would dearly love to see it revert - at least in this citizenship clause aspect - to it’s original intent, I’d be happy with a clear interpretation of any kind at this point from them there black robes. And failing that, I’d want to see the people running for the nation’s highest offices to be 3rd, 4th, or greater generation Americans, just so we don’t have to fall down in this puddle every 4 years. I think we can all agree on that one. Wet shoes are such a bother. [ ooh, I sidestepped another one!! ]
Posted by Drew458
on 04/28/2012 at 12:03 PM
Filed Under: • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration • Politics • Republicans •
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Permalink • Let’s Just Call Them Rubios And Be Done With It
another immigrant story, h/t to Rich K, via Ace
[insert Tiger Mom joke here, or mention how these critters are just being used as political prawns]
An invasion of giant cannibal shrimp into America’s coastal waters appears to be getting worse. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday that sightings of the massive Asian tiger shrimp, which can eat their smaller cousins, were 10 times higher in 2011 than in 2010.
“And they are probably even more prevalent than reports suggest, because the more fisherman and other locals become accustomed to seeing them, the less likely they are to report them,” said Pam Fuller, a USGS biologist.
The shrimp, which can grow to 13 inches long, are native to Asian and Australian waters and have been reported in coastal waters from North Carolina to Texas.
They can be consumed by humans.
“They’re supposed to be very good. But they can get very large, sorta like lobsters,” Fuller said.
While they may make good eatin’ for people, it’s the eating the giant shrimp do themselves that worries scientists.
“Are they competing with or preying on native shrimp,” Fuller asked. “It’s also very disease-prone.”
To try to get those answers, government scientists are launching a special research project on the creatures.
Perhaps some lout should shout “They’re here, no fear, get used to it!”?
The shrimp were “accidentally” released (how often have we heard that canard?) off the South Carolina coast in 1998. Somehow 2,000 of them got loose then and only 300 were recaptured. Since then they’ve been showing up all the way down to Florida and around the coast to Texas. So it’s pretty unlikely that the same little herd is doing all that moving and getting caught once in a while like gypsy caravans. They’re breeding. Like mad. Worse than rats. Or gypsies.
Scientists don’t know if there is a breeding population in U.S. waters. Tiger shrimp females can lay 50,000 to a million eggs, which hatch within 24 hours. Or the shrimp may be carried here by currents or in ballast tanks of marine vessels.
The latest study will look at the DNA of collected specimens
Yup, that’s breeding alright. I’m just grateful that they’re only giant cannibal shrimp, not giant zombie shrimp. So let’s apply Wong Kim Ark in a natural resource manner, claim them as our own, and start the barbies going. At over a foot long, two or three of these ought to make a pretty decent meal.
Posted by Drew458
on 04/28/2012 at 11:46 AM
Filed Under: • Animals • Fine-Dining •
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Permalink • Bang Zoom!
thanks to Rich K
Posted by Drew458
on 04/28/2012 at 11:43 AM
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine • Humor • Obama, The One •
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Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
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