Mirages, Unicorns and Exit Doors...
Monday, June 27, 2005
Was it a Hate Crime?!
A very close friend of mine was faced with a not so happy situation when she went back to her car after leaving it parked for two days...she found the side glass broken and the stone used for the attack lying inside the car...
Nothing was stolen...
Was it a kid who was playing around?? Was it someone who was planning to steal the car but then was startled by someone coming over in their direction??
Or was it someone who broke the glass as a way of expressing their hatred for the other...his hatred for Christians...a cross was visibly hanging inside the car... ¶ 2:04 PM 3 Comments
Nothing was stolen...
Was it a kid who was playing around?? Was it someone who was planning to steal the car but then was startled by someone coming over in their direction??
Or was it someone who broke the glass as a way of expressing their hatred for the other...his hatred for Christians...a cross was visibly hanging inside the car... ¶ 2:04 PM 3 Comments
Gay Whispers in the Islamic World
NEW YORK — This weekend’s Gay Pride festivities will climax withSunday’s 36th annual parade down Fifth Avenue. As usual, the raucousaffair will thrill some and rattle others, but everyone expects to walkaway intact.One would have to fantasize about such an occasion, however, in mostMuslim nations where homosexuality remains as concealed as a bridebeneath a burqa. When it peeks through, it isn’t pretty. Whileprogressives (and President Bush) call Islam a religion of peace,"celebrating diversity" is hardly on the agenda. Consider these recentexamples of the Islamic world’s institutional homophobia:
*In Saudi Arabia, 105 men were sentenced in April for acts of "deviantsexual behavior" following their March arrests. Al-Wifaq, agovernment-affiliated newspaper, claimed they illegally danced togetherand were "behaving like women" at a gay wedding."Calling the event a ‘gay wedding’ has become a lightning rod todiscrimination against gay people," Widney Brown of Human Rights Watchtold Patrick Letellier of gay.com.Seventy men received one-year prison sentences while 31 got six monthsto one year, plus 200 lashes each. Four others face two years behindbars plus 2,000 lashes. If these four receive their lashes at once,Brown fears they will die.*"Anyone caught committing sodomy – kill both the sodomizer and thesodomized," Islamic cleric Tareq Sweidan demanded on Qatar TV lastApril22. As the Middle East Media Research Institute (memri.org) reports,Sweidan continued: "The clerics determined how the homosexual should bekilled. They said he should be stoned to death. Some clerics said heshould be thrown off a mountain."
*Ogudu Emmanuel and Odjegba Tevin admitted that they were male loversafter their neighbors reported them to Nigerian cops. They werearrestedJanuary 15 and charged with "crimes against nature." The pairapparentlyescaped from jail while awaiting trial and potential 14-year prisonsentences. Gay rights activists worried that cops or other inmates mayhave killed them in custody.Last November, an Islamic court in Keffi, issued an arrest warrant forMichael Ifediora Nwokoma after neighbors accused him of having sex witha man named Mallam Abdullahi Ibrahim. Nwokoma quickly fled. Ibrahim wascharged with the "unholy" act of "homosexualism." The court delayedIbrahim’s trial and decided to incarcerate him until Nwokomasurfaces.In northern Nigeria, where Sharia law governs 12 Muslim states,homosexuality requires capital punishment by stoning."
*Ansar-al-Sunnah, the Iraqi terrorist group, issued a statement lastDecember 30 urging Iraqis not to vote in last January’s elections,lestdemocracy spawn un-Islamic laws such as "homosexual marriage." To besure, many Americans oppose gay marriage, but they at least have thegood manners not to detonate same-sex marriage advocates.
*Egyptian cops have met gay men on-line and through personal ads, thenarrested them, according to a March 1, 2004 Human Rights Watch report.Since 2001, HRW says at least 179 men have been charged with"debauchery," prompting five-year prison sentences for at least 23. Asthe Associated Press’ Nadia Abou El-Magd wrote, HRW "interviewed 63menwho had been arrested for homosexual conduct. It said they spoke ofbeing whipped, bound and suspended in painful positions, splashed withcold water, burned with cigarettes, shocked with electricity to thelimbs, genital or tongue. They also said guards encouraged otherprisoners to rape them" — thus using coercive gay sex to penalize consensual gay sex.
While he notes that secular nations such as Jordan, Indonesia,Malaysia,and Syria are more relaxed about homosexuality, Robert Spencer,Directorof JihadWatch.org and editor of The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, warnsagainst equating the homophobia of strict Muslim states with, say,American social conservatives’ hostility to gay rights."Jerry Falwell and others like him do not call for the deaths ofhomosexuals, while these people do," Spencer observes.
"This demonstrates the bankruptcy and, ultimately, the danger of such moralequivalence arguments, which are nonetheless ubiquitous today indiscussions of Islamic terrorism."May Sunday’s marchers remember those who literally risk their livesandlimbs by merely peering out of the Islamic closet.
New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a syndicated columnist with theScripps Howard News Service.----- End forwarded message ¶ 1:54 PM 1 Comments
*In Saudi Arabia, 105 men were sentenced in April for acts of "deviantsexual behavior" following their March arrests. Al-Wifaq, agovernment-affiliated newspaper, claimed they illegally danced togetherand were "behaving like women" at a gay wedding."Calling the event a ‘gay wedding’ has become a lightning rod todiscrimination against gay people," Widney Brown of Human Rights Watchtold Patrick Letellier of gay.com.Seventy men received one-year prison sentences while 31 got six monthsto one year, plus 200 lashes each. Four others face two years behindbars plus 2,000 lashes. If these four receive their lashes at once,Brown fears they will die.*"Anyone caught committing sodomy – kill both the sodomizer and thesodomized," Islamic cleric Tareq Sweidan demanded on Qatar TV lastApril22. As the Middle East Media Research Institute (memri.org) reports,Sweidan continued: "The clerics determined how the homosexual should bekilled. They said he should be stoned to death. Some clerics said heshould be thrown off a mountain."
*Ogudu Emmanuel and Odjegba Tevin admitted that they were male loversafter their neighbors reported them to Nigerian cops. They werearrestedJanuary 15 and charged with "crimes against nature." The pairapparentlyescaped from jail while awaiting trial and potential 14-year prisonsentences. Gay rights activists worried that cops or other inmates mayhave killed them in custody.Last November, an Islamic court in Keffi, issued an arrest warrant forMichael Ifediora Nwokoma after neighbors accused him of having sex witha man named Mallam Abdullahi Ibrahim. Nwokoma quickly fled. Ibrahim wascharged with the "unholy" act of "homosexualism." The court delayedIbrahim’s trial and decided to incarcerate him until Nwokomasurfaces.In northern Nigeria, where Sharia law governs 12 Muslim states,homosexuality requires capital punishment by stoning."
*Ansar-al-Sunnah, the Iraqi terrorist group, issued a statement lastDecember 30 urging Iraqis not to vote in last January’s elections,lestdemocracy spawn un-Islamic laws such as "homosexual marriage." To besure, many Americans oppose gay marriage, but they at least have thegood manners not to detonate same-sex marriage advocates.
*Egyptian cops have met gay men on-line and through personal ads, thenarrested them, according to a March 1, 2004 Human Rights Watch report.Since 2001, HRW says at least 179 men have been charged with"debauchery," prompting five-year prison sentences for at least 23. Asthe Associated Press’ Nadia Abou El-Magd wrote, HRW "interviewed 63menwho had been arrested for homosexual conduct. It said they spoke ofbeing whipped, bound and suspended in painful positions, splashed withcold water, burned with cigarettes, shocked with electricity to thelimbs, genital or tongue. They also said guards encouraged otherprisoners to rape them" — thus using coercive gay sex to penalize consensual gay sex.
While he notes that secular nations such as Jordan, Indonesia,Malaysia,and Syria are more relaxed about homosexuality, Robert Spencer,Directorof JihadWatch.org and editor of The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, warnsagainst equating the homophobia of strict Muslim states with, say,American social conservatives’ hostility to gay rights."Jerry Falwell and others like him do not call for the deaths ofhomosexuals, while these people do," Spencer observes.
"This demonstrates the bankruptcy and, ultimately, the danger of such moralequivalence arguments, which are nonetheless ubiquitous today indiscussions of Islamic terrorism."May Sunday’s marchers remember those who literally risk their livesandlimbs by merely peering out of the Islamic closet.
New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a syndicated columnist with theScripps Howard News Service.----- End forwarded message ¶ 1:54 PM 1 Comments
Winds of Change...
From BBC - June 20, 2005http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4111234.stmKuwait's woman minister sworn-in Massouma Mubarak: It's a great victory for Kuwaiti womenKuwait's first woman cabinet minister has been sworn-in amid noisy protests from Islamist politicians. Massouma al-Mubarak, the new planning minister, described her appointment as a "great victory" for Kuwaiti women. Tribal and Islamist MPs banged their desks and shouted in protest as she took her oath in parliament. They fiercely opposed last month's historic bill giving women full political rights, and say Ms Mubarak's appointment is unconstitutional. They said that as she had not registered as a voter she was not eligible to become a member of parliament. As they stood and shouted in protest, liberal politicians stood as well, shouting congratulations to the 57-year-old US-educated political science teacher. 'Legal' appointment Ms Mubarak - wearing a dark pinstriped suit and an Islamic veil that covered her hair - appeared unbothered by the clamour as she read the oath, correspondents said. Speaker Jassem al-Khorafi reassured the house he had consulted constitutional experts who confirmed her appointment was legal. "It's a great day for Kuwaiti women who have struggled and persevered persistently to gain their full political rights," said Ms Mubarak afterwards. "In my name and in the name of Kuwait's women... we greatly appreciate the honest efforts exerted in support of the legitimate demands of Kuwait women." Ms Mubarak was named minister of planning and administrative development a month after Kuwait's parliament gave women the right to vote and participate in politics for the first time. But the legislation, passed on 16 May, came too late for women to participate in the 2 June municipal polls. They will be able to take part in Kuwait's parliamentary elections in 2007. ¶ 1:48 PM 0 Comments
From BBC - June 20, 2005http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4111234.stmKuwait's woman minister sworn-in Massouma Mubarak: It's a great victory for Kuwaiti womenKuwait's first woman cabinet minister has been sworn-in amid noisy protests from Islamist politicians. Massouma al-Mubarak, the new planning minister, described her appointment as a "great victory" for Kuwaiti women. Tribal and Islamist MPs banged their desks and shouted in protest as she took her oath in parliament. They fiercely opposed last month's historic bill giving women full political rights, and say Ms Mubarak's appointment is unconstitutional. They said that as she had not registered as a voter she was not eligible to become a member of parliament. As they stood and shouted in protest, liberal politicians stood as well, shouting congratulations to the 57-year-old US-educated political science teacher. 'Legal' appointment Ms Mubarak - wearing a dark pinstriped suit and an Islamic veil that covered her hair - appeared unbothered by the clamour as she read the oath, correspondents said. Speaker Jassem al-Khorafi reassured the house he had consulted constitutional experts who confirmed her appointment was legal. "It's a great day for Kuwaiti women who have struggled and persevered persistently to gain their full political rights," said Ms Mubarak afterwards. "In my name and in the name of Kuwait's women... we greatly appreciate the honest efforts exerted in support of the legitimate demands of Kuwait women." Ms Mubarak was named minister of planning and administrative development a month after Kuwait's parliament gave women the right to vote and participate in politics for the first time. But the legislation, passed on 16 May, came too late for women to participate in the 2 June municipal polls. They will be able to take part in Kuwait's parliamentary elections in 2007. ¶ 1:48 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
How a King Should Be?
Every day on my way to the office in Maadi, I pass by a series of big pictures of Mubarak, especially at the entrances into Maadi...However lately one of them was removed for a couple of weeks...only 5 days ago was it replaced with a newer one, in which the president had a bigger smile and looked younger...that was nothing strange or wierd since it has been the norm lately in Egypt that there would be as many pictures of the President on the streets as the number of buildings on those same streets (slightly an exaggeration but then not completely false)...
However, what was strange and shocking that on Sunday I passed by it and it was covered in yellow spray with 3 Arabic words written around the picture..."El 3adl Asas el Molk"... literally meaning: Kings need to be just (it sounds more intense in Arabic)...The statement indicates two things:
1. Someone feels that the President is not being just...
2. Someone is being sarcastic about his 24 year old presidency that they are referring to him as a king...
Whats the most shocking is that 2 days have passed and the grafitti is still there... ¶ 12:29 PM 0 Comments
However, what was strange and shocking that on Sunday I passed by it and it was covered in yellow spray with 3 Arabic words written around the picture..."El 3adl Asas el Molk"... literally meaning: Kings need to be just (it sounds more intense in Arabic)...The statement indicates two things:
1. Someone feels that the President is not being just...
2. Someone is being sarcastic about his 24 year old presidency that they are referring to him as a king...
Whats the most shocking is that 2 days have passed and the grafitti is still there... ¶ 12:29 PM 0 Comments
Sunday, June 12, 2005
People Come and People Go...
I am happy that I am experiencing new things all the time again...I was starting to get bored of Egypt and starting to feel that Assem might be right on his opinion that Cairo is a city that doesnt change...BUT IT DEFINITLEY DOES...
Its people change all the time...
New people come in...old people leave...people just stay but then change all the time...
I have been experiencing this the most during the last days with th Salaam trainees...I am getting to meet and talk with people I never thought I would meet...people with views and identities that I never thought I would encounter...Even people I thought I knew and then starting to find out more and more things I did not know about them...
One of the latter being Yasmine Khater, now a fellow blogger. Yasmine will be leaving Cairo for a year starting late August...Now, I really know that I will miss Khawater (a nickname she hates!!)
I enjoy it when people come in...but then I really dont when people leave...first Thea, Tom and now Yasmine... ¶ 5:23 PM 2 Comments
