The sheriffâs office received a complaint that a costumed character at Disney World had touched a girl and her mother inappropriately while their pictures were being taken with the character Feb. 21. According to an incident report, Chartrand fondled the breasts of the girl and the mother while posing for pictures at the Magic Kingdomâs Toon Town. "As the photo was being taken, [the victim] claims that Tigger moved his right hand up to her right breast and started massaging it several times," the incident report states. [The victim] became very embarrassed and ashamed of the incident and claims that she did not say anything to her mother until they left the park." Later, the girl learned that the costumed character had done the same thing to her mother with his left hand, the report says. In a charging affadavit filed in court, police wrote that Chartrand told them he had trouble remembering things, but was "very sorry for everything that had occurred," and hoped the victim would forgive him for what he had done. The girl and her father reported the incident on Feb. 29. I leave the canvas clean.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 1:18:59 AM ||
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..Now what I cannot figure out is this: CNN carried this story on Wolf Blitzer's show, and the part about him having trouble remembering things got mentioned - but they also said he was dyslexic.
First, what does that have to do with anything? And second, did he think it will help get him off the hook?
"Honest, yer Honor, I only fodneled them!"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/03/2004 1:53 Comments ||
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#2
A man who fondles corraborating witnesses... in the same family.... on camera ... has more intellectually in common with Winnie the Pooh - a bear with a stuffing between his ears.
Looks kids Tigger has a new definition of FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN. Has he been hanging with Snoop Dog?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 2:05 Comments ||
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#16
I think Boris has been banned or just given up.
Would it be premature to break open a beer, Fred? Does Boris realise he's been beat? Or is there still a bitter struggle going on behind the Rantburg curtains?
#17
Does Boris realise he's been beat? Or is there still a bitter struggle going on behind the Rantburg curtains?
"We can say no more!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2004 13:09 Comments ||
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#18
Yesyesyes. Getting back to the topic, while we are hauling Tigger before the Vice Squad, can we get somebody to look into the case of Pooh and Piglet ? They have been, *ahem*, "confirmed bachelor companions" for a looooong time now.
Posted by: Carl in NH ||
04/03/2004 20:29 Comments ||
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#19
Walt's Place has really gone to the dogs.
I hear Mickey and Minnie are into hot
tubs and Mice-Swapping. And Goofy is
moving to Massachusetts with Pluto to
swop vows. . .
Rabies-carrying vampire bats killed at least 13 people in a remote Amazon town in Brazil's northern state of Para last month, authorities said on Friday. The state health care department said the thumb-sized creatures had attacked about 300 people -- an unusually high number -- since March 2 in the riverside Portel area, next to the world's biggest estuarine archipelago of Marajo. "All the deceased had a history of recent bat attacks and six of them had confirmed human rabies from bat bites," a department spokeswoman said. Other bite victims received vaccines and other anti-rabies treatment after March 19, when authorities became aware of the problem. The spokeswoman said government scientists suspect the attacks are linked to a change in the bats' migration pattern caused by deforestation. Vampire bats normally feed on the blood of large birds and sleeping cattle, lapping it from cuts they make with their teeth. They often transmit rabies to cattle.
"Get the hammer, Ma, Elsie's foamin' again!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2004 12:24:23 AM ||
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HE, I've gotten caught in the old backdraft once or twice. The smell of burnt hair could be marketed as a perfume alled Impatient or Ill-advised.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 16:41 Comments ||
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Addendum to #1
No really, gang. An Al Reuters story and they fail to blame Dubya himself or at least the US in general?
They must have the second-string on the Brazil desk.
Saudi-controlled Arabia has vowed to ensure world oil supplies will remain plentiful, in light of Opec's decision to cut output. "We will not allow shortages in the market," said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, after meeting President George W Bush.
What friends.
Opec reduced production - by one million barrels per day - in order to provoke an orderly easing in prices. The oil cartel reckons that prices are heading back to $25-28 per barrel, well within its target range. At present, oil prices are still well above that target: US crude oil is currently trading around $35 per barrel. But Opec is convinced that the current highs are speculative, and not indicative of any genuine strength in the market. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal says there is a fundamental oversupply of oil, something that would eventually take its toll in the form of a sharp fall in prices. Stocks of oil in the US, the world's biggest importer of crude, are at a 19-month high. US investors have stockpiled oil in response to the current tense security situation, but most analysts expect the buying to come to a halt soon.
Which is why the price is so high. No, wait ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2004 12:15:53 AM ||
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Apparently Prince Bandar got hauled into the Oval Office for an unscheduled "discussion" of world energy policy. I wish I coulda been a fly on that wall...
#2
They're dumb. If I were them, I would build and fill huge storage tanks for crude and then wait to gouge the world when Chavez reaches the final impact from his current death spiral.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 2:54 Comments ||
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"Opec reduced production - by one million barrels per day - in order to provoke an orderly easing in prices"
You know,my being just dumb-ass white boy,I just can't figure this one out.
How is reducing supply going to cause an easing of prices?
Doesn't the Laws of Supply and Demand come into play here?
#4
There may be some odd logic to this if, in fact, the $35/brl price is due to shorts and if there really is a plentiful supply. The SA want the price to fall slowly and avoid panicing the speculators into a huge drop in price.
#5
Raptor - This disingenuous quote is about softening the fall in prices for OPEC. In other words, they are looking out for themselves and protecting their economies from a sudden shock when (lol!) the prices fall. You didn't really think they gave a rat's ass about anyone else did ya? Lol! Nah, I didn't think so!
The absurdity of the current price is due to stockpiling (Can you say 'hoarding' and 'self-fulfilling prophecy'? Lol!) because there is certainly no shortage currently.
With record prices, the opposite is now true -- there is rampant overproduction by all non-OPEC producers and over-quota shenanigans by their OPEC brothers - the poor Saudis (lol!) are trying to get the greediest people on the planet to show some restraint, heh. They wear the mantle of World Oil Price Cop - and often have to underproduce (cutting their own income) to stabilize prices cuz other OPEC whores cheat like mad. Hysterically funny, actually. Lesse, what are some of those choice mustache curses? Too bad OPEC meetings aren't public... Lol!
The price should be some where between $25-$30 bbl now. Market "fears" are usually self-fulfilling prophecies. Sound familiar?
I'd really like to know how much he pays for his Wayfarers. I can hear the collusion between his "gopher" and the Herrod's sales clerk now,
Clerk: "Think he'll go for £100?"
Gopher: "Sure. Make it £325 - £100 each for you, me, and your manager - and the £25 actual price for the store."
Blame the price of oil on his sunglasses. Heh. :^)
#6
Oil rich nations will complain aboutthe US interferring in their internal politics. Yet isn't this exactly what they are attempting to do here. If energy costs sky rocket this summer and early fall the US and Eu economies will be stung bad. To a large degree people vote their pocket books. If the economy goes in the toilet then Kery is almost guaranteed to win come November. And don't think that OPEC and others who do not like regime change in the Middle East haven't thought about this
EFL - Orlando Sentinal editors call for all classified intelligence to be made public immediately.
What does John Bolton know and how does he know it? The State Department official must tell. Bolton is undersecretary for arms control and international security. He presented a report this week to the House Committee on International Relations that included accusations that Cubaâs government harbors biological weapons research and development programs with terrorist intentions. Itâs not the first time Bolton has made this allegation. In a May 2002 speech, Bolton alleged Cuba had provided "dual-use" biotechnology to rogue nations. The charges are troubling. So is Boltonâs inability to provide hard evidence to prove his case. He didnât produce data in 2002, and he didnât detail his charges before the House this week. The State Department hasnât backed up Bolton with specifics. A recent report on terrorism only notes Cuba provided safe haven and support for Basque terrorists and Colombian rebels. Major speeches by Secretary of State Colin Powell at hemispheric gatherings have been mum on the Cuban bio-terrorist threat.
Bolton has said Cuba has been able to hide its bio-weapons programs with the help of a spy, Ana Belen Montes, a former senior Cuba analyst for the Pentagon. Montes admitted to spying for Cuba in 2002 and is in prison today. All this begs key questions: What makes Bolton certain? Why doesnât anyone else admit knowing what he knows? And if the Bush administration believes Bolton, why isnât it assembling a "coalition of the willing" to confront Cuba? Iâm game
Itâs time for Bolton to speak candidly, either in a public setting or behind closed doors. If national security adviser Condoleezza Rice can testify before Congress about the Sept. 11 attacks, surely John Bolton should be delineating in greater detail the bio-threat he sees in the Caribbean. Thereâs plenty at stake here, both in terms of national security and national credibility. There is much skepticism abroad about American motives and intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. America canât afford to end up with egg on its face in its own hemisphere. Itâs time Bolton tells what he knows, or admits what he doesnât. ... And tell us how we got the information and from whom and tell it on CSPAN and provide resumes of all our operatives world wide and I want a pony... yak yak yak ... Super Bowl passes for my in laws .... ad nauseum ....
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 1:46:07 AM ||
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But what would they use for a delivery system? I know, they could get some some star-struck Fidel-fellating Hollywoodist to carry it back. How much anthrax can you get into a vaginal suppository anyway? Probably a bio-MOAB's worth if they can recruit Jane Fonda or Barbra Streisand.
New Zealand will pull its army engineers out of Iraq in September but they may return later, Prime Minister Helen Clark said Friday. New Zealand has 60 army engineers based near Iraq's southern city of Basra, where they are repairing water systems, power facilities, buildings and other infrastructure. New Zealand's defense forces deployed in the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq are ''pretty stretched at the moment,'' Clark said.
The engineering team will return from Iraq at the end of their one-year tour in September, avoiding a rollover term of another six months, she said. Clark said New Zealand would consider other ways to help Iraq's return to full sovereignty. ''But we may then come back and do the same thing (reconstruction) again''' she said. ''That ... for example, has been the case with the SAS (elite commando troops) in Afghanistan.'' In December 2001, New Zealand sent commando units to Afghanistan for 12 months to support the international war on terror. A commando unit returns to Afghanistan this month for a six-month term to help stabilize the nation as it heads toward general elections in June, Clark announced last month. ''It is my very strong view that the international community should not turn its back on that country as it struggles to return to some form of stability,'' Clark said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/03/2004 12:08:52 AM ||
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Dishman, it's odd that this story is not more prevalent in the international headlines. The American media would be on this one continuously. Greta and Rita would be interviewing the lovers, best-friends and kindergarten teachers of everyone even peripherally involved.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 17:50 Comments ||
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EFL - From Venezuelaanalysis.com home of the Chavistasâ¢
In a series of foreign policy formulations in recent days, the presumptive Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, has issued a number of statements on Latin American-related subjects which, if anything, appear to outflank on the right the Bush administrationâs extremist regional policymakers, as he shamelessly panders to the anti-Castro paranoia of a group of aging but wealthy Cuban-American ideologues in South Florida, and rich Venezuelan expatriates in Coral Gables. His two primary targets have been President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Cubaâs Fidel Castro. While commendably finding fault with Bush policy regarding Secretary of State Powellâs failure to protect the Aristide government in Haiti, Kerryâs rhetoric regarding Cuba and Venezuela is reminiscent of barren Cold War strictures which, for all purposes, places him in the same extremist ideological bracket as the administrationâs two chief Latin American policy makers; the State Departmentâs Roger Noriega and the Bush White Houseâs Otto Reich.
Regarding Haiti, Kerry has said, âThis administration has been engaged in very manipulative and wrongful ways. They have a theological and an ideological hatred for Aristide. They always have. They approached this so the [anti-Aristide] insurgents were empowered by this administration.â He also has observed in reference to Haiti, âPeople will know Iâm tough and Iâm prepared to do what is necessary to defend the United States of America, and that includes the unilateral deployment of troops if necessary.â Such declarations have raised hopes that a Kerry administration will take a more forceful stand in favor of Haitian democracy and commit the resources needed to stabilize the countryâs battered institutions and uphold its constitution, which has been all but ignored by Powell.
Kerry would have deployed U.S. forces to support Jean=Berty? It's okay to prop up a dictator if there's an election in his past?
Regarding Castro, Kerry called for the continuation and intensification of Washingtonâs near-universally acknowledged failed embargo policy towards Havana. ââIâm pretty tough on Castro, because I think heâs running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world,ââ Kerry remarked in recent days. When asked whether he endorsed lifting the embargo, he answered, âNot unilaterally, not now, no.â In truth, any action would have to be unilateral, since the embargo is not honored by any other country in the world. As for sending back ElÃan to his father in Cuba several years ago, Kerry observed, âI donât agree with that. I didnât like the way they did it.â Regarding the virulently anti-Castro Helms-Burton measure, Kerry said, âI voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him [Castro].â
Having endeavored throughout the Democratic primaries to establish his credentials as an advocate of a more principled and professional method of international engagement, in contrast to the interventionist and unilateralist blunderings of the current administration when it came to the Iraq war, the senator is now in danger of tarnishing that reputation through his reckless endorsement of the White Houseâs long discredited Latin America policies that are now even opposed by conservative farm state Republican legislators and businessmen.... By so flagrantly tacking to the prevailing political winds in South Florida, Kerry risks alienating voters from elsewhere in the country who want not a reprise of Bush and Powellâs tainted foreign policy, but a bold and visionary alternative. Kerryâs statements could also potentially deal a heavy blow against Democratic efforts to mobilize some of the more disaffected members of its party base in a year where the drop out of even a handful of previously committed Democratic dissidents could prove deadly to his electoral prospects.
Kerryâs regrettable baiting of Bush on being soft on Castro and Chávez borders on the irresponsible and could have dangerous implications for peace in the region. In 1989, when the first President Bush was confronting deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Manuel Noriegaâs Panama, the president admirably attempted to contain the situation without having to resort to military force against the Panamanian dictatorship. At the same time, Bush was being mercilessly attacked by Senate liberals, including Leahy, Dodd and Kennedy, for being too soft on Manual Noriega. Since there appeared to be no defined constituency supporting a peaceful settlement of the conflict with Panama... it can be argued that it was the U.S. Senate liberals who helped to bring on the conflict, because there were few political costs to initiating a conflict, while there were many not to. The same could be said of Kerryâs provocative attacks against Cuba and Venezuela at a time when Roger Noriega has been warning Castro that âheâs playing with fire,â and both he and Reich... are publicly denouncing Chávez and Castro for working to destabilize the rest of Latin America. Kerryâs tilt to the right when it comes to Latin American policy may be attributable to confusion, given the clarity of his charges against the Bush administrationâs controversial Haiti policy. While this may account for his resorting to aimless babble concerning Venezuela, and pandering for donations and Floridaâs votes when it comes to Castro, it doesnât entirely explain the inevitably heavy domestic political costs he seems prepared to risk, given the fund raising harangues he is apparently prepared to make to Cuban-American audiences and his eagerness to submit to South Floridaâs political calculus.
If his recent statements are any guide, it is obvious that the Kerry campaign has not given any serious consideration to the issues at stake in Washingtonâs relations with Cuba or Venezuela... Having stated in a newspaper interview in 2000 that the embargo was a product only of the âpolitics of Floridaâ and should be reconsidered, Kerry recently reversed himself and declared in favor of a tough line against Castro after meeting with prominent Cuban-American exile leaders in Miami six months ago. This reversal only helps to confirm the Bush campaignâs damaging accusations that Kerry is a political dandy who is deft at flip-flopping when such an action is to his benefit... Over the past week, he has sweetened his stance toward Cuban community leaders, perhaps driven by the desire not to repeat Goreâs Palm Beach County election debacle, as well as buoyed by polls stating that only 60% of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade and Broward counties plan to vote for Bush this November, reflecting the growing conviction among older Cubans that while Bush regularly bashes Castro, he does little to bring him down.
Surely they don't think Kerry will?
In Kerryâs estimation, the road to capturing the disaffected 40% lies in emulating candidate Clintonâs first presidential race against Bush I, when the latter galloped around his adversaryâs rightwing flank by accusing Bush of being soft of Havana, and making denunciations of the Castro regime, and by extension, any government that has cordial relations with it. Embattled President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who, ironically enough, recently declared himself a strong supporter of Kerry, stands accused by the senator of undermining democracy in Venezuela and supporting ânarco-terroristsâ in neighboring Colombia. Unless Kerry has information that is not being shared with Colombian specialists, no evidence exists to buttress this charge... It is quite clear, however, that the real issue here is not the state of democracy in Venezuela... On the contrary, the most devastating accusation that the Kerry camp seeks to level against Chávez is that his âclose relationship with Fidel Castro has raised serious questions about his commitment to leading a truly democratic governmentâ ...Presumably, Kerry would not extend his theory by questioning the bona fides of President Lula de Silva of Brazil or Argentinaâs Nestór Kirchner, both of whom have referred to both Castro and Chávez as their friend. Chávezâs complex populist nationalism doesnât permit this kind of trivialized analysis, which is both simplistic and represents a vulgarized comprehension of the present balance of forces existing in todayâs Venezuela.
Nor does the spirit of Kerryâs rhetoric take into account the practical basis of Chávezâs relationship with Castro, with the latter providing subsidized oil deliveries to Cuba and the former providing thousands of badly needed doctors and hard boyz technicians to Caracas. Kerryâs attacks on Chávez are a transparent attempt to win the backing of the most conservative factions of Miamiâs Cuban-American community as well as its large population of wealthy Venezuelan expatriates who own condos or other second homes in the area... Kerryâs self-serving hemispheric strategy could have very grave implications for his political fate. When it comes to Latin American issues, there exists a very substantive, vocal and highly sophisticated political constituency in this county â in the hundred of thousands - regarding the region. This bloc repeatedly has denounced Bush, Secretary of State Powell, Noriega and Reich for the extremist policies being directed against Cuba, Venezuela and other left-of-center governments and movements in the region. The prospect of Ralph Nader attracting what normally would have been Kerryâs votes... -snip- transparent posturing as a Nader advocate slightly more believable than a pro-Kucinich we plant to waste our vote to show you rant.
Drafted by Larry Birns, Director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, and COHA Research Fellow Jessica Leight. Leftists take heart - if you donât like Kerryâs stance on any, just wait 24 hour hours. His rhetoric will rebound by 180 degrees.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 2:00:54 AM ||
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The Democrates obviously remember how much Elian Gonzalez costed them.
In 1989, when the first President Bush was confronting deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Manuel Noriegaâs Panama, the president admirably attempted to contain the situation without having to resort to military force against the Panamanian dictatorship.
EFL
Clinton has taken part in some fundraising on Kerryâs behalf in the last few weeks. "Clinton is still the star fundraiser," says Ms Bojarsky. But she warns that the traditional forms of fundraising - dinners, receptions and the like - could suffer from "donor fatigue". Others believe the deep antipathy towards President Bush among the Democratic faithful will continue to drive up the Kerry fundraising total beyond even his aidesâ most optimistic predictions. The campaign initially expected $80m this year, but Kerry backers are now talking about the possibility of $100m or $120m. With the help of allied liberal groups, the Kerry camp can at least hope to compete with the Bush campaignâs spending, in contrast to recent presidential elections in which Republicans have typically spent double the Democratic total.
Senator Kerry has waived his rights to public matching funds to avoid a federally-imposed cap on spending before the July Democratic nomination. However, the Republicans have mounted a legal challenge, claiming the party is breaking campaign finance rules by coordinating its operations with liberal organisations such as MoveOn.org and the Media Fund, which are raising money as independent groups and are therefore free to receive large single donations that are out of bounds to candidates.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 1:23:58 AM ||
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I don't know what's stranger, that there are so many of these useful idiots, or that so many of them are already active in the Rantburg Search Index.
So much for enjoying the movies.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/03/2004 12:06 Comments ||
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I don't know what's stranger, that there are so many of these useful idiots...
Fantasy is their stock in trade. It's simple really.
Gore TV Deal Is Stalled At The 11th Hour; Major Investor Pulls Out
by Joe Hagan The Observer has learned that the deal for former Vice President Al Gore and his business partner Joel Hyatt to acquire digital-cable channel Newsworld International (NWI) has hit a major obstacle and may have fallen through in the 11th hour of negotiations. Wonder what the hangup was?
Sources familiar with the situation said that one of Mr. Goreâs crucial investors got cold feet in the last stage of the deal and that Mr. Goreâs group and the channelâs owner, Vivendi Universal Entertainment, could not agree on a price. Mr. Goreâs group was said to be paying around $70 million for Newsworld. My guess - Goreâs group lowballed them.
Reached for comment, and asked if the deal had died, Mr. Hyatt initially said, "No," but then added, "No comment. Itâs always been no comment. We never talked about this deal, never. When weâre at liberty to talk, I very much look forward do doing so." "I can say no more!"
A spokeswoman for Vivendi Universal said, "Things are still in flux, but it hasnât been officially declared over." The boat hasnât reached bottom yet...
Sources close to Mr. Gore told The Observer that the capital raised by Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt had come from dozens of investors, with a mix of individual, venture capital and investment banking money. It is not clear which investor pulled out of the deal. Um, the one with the most money?
If the deal should fall apart completely, NWI would become part of the Universal Entertainment properties currently being sold to NBC, sources said. Itâs not clear if NBC would be interested in a digital cable property, especially considering that it already owns news channels MSNBC and CNBC. And those two arenât exactly cash cows.
It could still be possible, in theory, for NBC to sell Newsworld to Mr. Gore âs group once its own deal is cleared. Spokespersons for NBC could not be reached for comment. In theory. In practice, itâs a whole ânother matter...
NWI has carriage in about 20 million homes, and packages "foreign newscasts originally broadcast in countries such as Germany, Japan, Canada and the European community," according to its Web site. Mr. Goreâs group has had plans of transforming the channel into a 24-hour news, documentary and public-affairs channel geared toward kids in their 20âs. When MTV and liberal college professors just isnât enough!
The deal for Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt to buy Newsworld International has been nearly a year in the making. It was initially stalled in the fall of 2003 by Vivendi Universalâs sale of its cable assets to NBC. Later, Barry Diller, former Newsworld owner and chief executive of InterActive Corp., held up the deal while he ran like hell the other way resolved his own ownership issues. A source close to Mr. Diller told the Observer that Mr. Diller had cleared out the way for Mr. Gore to acquire the company about three weeks ago. Dillerâs not stupid. He bailed out. So many words, so little information.
EFL
The row about the Clinton-era documents exposes the administration to the allegation that it trying to suppress information in fear that it will make the Bush White House appear tentative. Bruce Lindsey, a Clinton White House legal adviser who now works for his presidential foundation, said he had discovered in February that three quarters of the 11,000 pages passed to the National Archives in Washington had been held back from the commission by the White House. I wondered what happened to Lindsey.
"I voiced a concern that the commission was making a judgment on an incomplete record," he told the New York Times. "I want to know why there is a 75% difference." Al Felzenberg, a spokesman for the commission, said: "We need to be satisfied that we have everything we have asked to see. We have voiced the concern to the White House that not all of the material the Clinton library has made available to us has made its way to the commission." What about the stuff that the Clinton Library has decided not to make available to the commission?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 1:33:34 AM ||
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"C'mon, guys... we need those FBI files for the 2004 campaign..."
#2
Another example of the fabled Bush fighting style, Briarpatch-Fu: "I don't need to go to Congress over Iraq."
"Yes, you do!" "OK, but I don't need to go to the UN"
"Yes, you do!" "OK, but my National Security Advisor won't testify in public."
"Yes, she must!" "OK (snicker, Condi will kill them), but I must protect President Clinton privacy by holding back some of his papers."
"No, no, you must release all his records!" "OK"
"Er, wait, we didn't mean those papers."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/03/2004 14:00 Comments ||
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.... A government mission sent to investigate the problem [women burning themselves to death because of forced marriages] in Herat, the capital of western Afghanistan, reported that at least 52 young married or soon-to-be married women had burned themselves to death in recent months. The youngest was a bride-to-be of just 13.
Mr [Nazir] Shah says he knows of more than 80 cases of self-immolation in western Fara province, where his daughter took her life, in the past two years. "There is not a village in Fara where a young woman has not burned herself to death."
Self-immolation has an unsavoury place in the history of several Asian countries, as a traditional form of female suicide, but in Afghanistan it is borne out of despair rather than cultural imperative and is on the increase. Behind the increase, says Amina Safi Afzali of the Afghan Human Rights Commission, is a deep disillusionment by many educated women because the two years since the Talebanâs fall have brought little freedom. That is felt most keenly among former refugees in Iran, who had grown accustomed to a freer life there. Significantly, most of the female suicides recorded in Herat, close to Afghanistanâs border with Iran, were of educated women.
"There are many more pressures on young Afghan women today, because they have learned what freedom is from radio and television, but that is not what they have," Ms Afzali said. "In the past, every girl knew she belonged to her family, she existed only for her father and her husband: she knew she wasnât free. Now, young girls know they should have rights, and they are prepared to burn themselves to show society that they do not have them yet." ....
"Women in this country are in a very bad situation, with forced marriages, families selling their daughters to pay drug debts, women being beaten all the time," said the deputy womenâs minister, Suraya Sobah Rang. "We have to change these things in our society. But what society wants, and what women want are two different things." ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/03/2004 5:42:49 PM ||
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HRC's involved? I'd question the numbers... Where was the obligatory slap at U.S. policies causing this?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/03/2004 18:27 Comments ||
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#2
Can't judge, can't judge...heck, who am I kidding? It's barbaric, the epitomy of it! Why can't these people see? And that's from a MAN'S STANDPOINT!
#3
A fight against terrorism will take a decade or more. A fight to change the wahabi damage to the Afghan culture will take a long time. Its sad that a 13 year old would give up the fight, but there is little I know of that will import hope to the Afghan/Irani border region.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 22:01 Comments ||
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#4
Moral relativism be damned, any culture that promotes such hopelessness for woman (or anyone else for that matter) belongs on history's scrapheap.
An Egyptian schoolteacher hacked his three children to death "as martyrs" to spite his bossy wife for years of humiliation and abuse, a government-owned newspaper reported on Friday. The 51-year-old man from Minya in southern Egypt confessed to killing his son and two daughters with an axe as they played blind-manâs bluff, all three blindfolded, the Al-Ahram daily said. The unnamed man was arrested in Cairo after fleeing to the capitalâs Khan Khalili tourist district following the grisly crime.
"My wife is to blame for everything. She took over everything: our seven-storey building, car, the money in the bank, the product of 12 years working abroad," the paper quoted the manâs confession as saying. "She considered us, our children and me, as private property," it added. "She always had the last word, up to the point where she ordered me to spend the night in the park near the house. I ended up hating her, but I adored my children, before whom I felt I was no longer a man. Therefore I decided to sacrifice them as martyrs to break my wifeâs heart," the newspaper quoted the man as saying
#1
typical Arab Drama Queen - "It's Not My Faultâ¢!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/03/2004 13:16 Comments ||
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#2
This episode is so redolent with commonplace Arab Muslim thought patterns that it is almost tragic.
Per the Eden myth, women are viewed as being responsible for tempting all men from righteousness' true path. So virulent is this precept that even an exposed lock of hair is deemed an unbearably inflammatory sexual lure.
This is why women are clad in burkhas and chaperoned everywhere they go. It's the same reason why Saudi mutawwai'in herded those schoolgirls back into a burning building so they could perish rather than let them out in public without hajib.
Until Islam is able to overcome this notion of women as chattel their religion will be increasingly marginalized by modern society. I have little pity regarding such disenfranchisement since this sort of male chauvinism has no place in the 21st century. As anyone can see, such misogyny continues to have dire implications for women throughout the Middle East. "Honor killings" (which are neither, as they are actually murder) and genital mutilation (daintily called "female circumcision") both represent the true nature of how women are treated in many (but not all) Islamic cultures.
That al Qaeda desires re-entrenchment of such practices is reason enough to blot them from the face of this earth.
#3
"She considered us, our children and me, as private property,"....
Sad, he just couldn't handle the role reversal.
Beheading is too good for this idiot, but don't bet against a slap on the wrist.
#6
This self-centered man's claim to be devoted to his children rings hollow.
That said, a portion of Christian scripture is devoted to instructions on marriage and love. Does Sufi wisdom address those topics? I have no more interest in learning what the Koran has to say about marriage but the Sufi's are interesting.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 17:22 Comments ||
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#7
Raj, your own question is equally freighted with irony. Even now there are Muslim societies where a husband can divorce his wife merely by repeating thrice, "I divorce you" in her presence. As to the "whack" end of the solution, domestic violence against women (or murder, if you mean it that way) is simply unacceptable, so it is null and void regardless of entrenched popularity.
With the ease of divorce most Muslim males enjoy in their religious courts, that man had little excuse for not leaving his abusive marriage. Even if he was too weak-willed to divorce her, it's still no reason for killing the children. It's pretty obvious this murderer was out to devastate his wife in a permanent way. That's just a rebranding of torture.
I envy neither of them, what hollow victories they both have had in life.
A fire swept through an evidence room at the U.N. tribunal for Rwanda on Friday, destroying computers and folders but no key documents, a tribunal spokesman said.
Comes as a suprise, doesn't it?
The fire, which began in the evidence processing unit just before 7 a.m., likely was caused by an electrical fault, said spokesman Roland Ammoussouga.
No doubt...
Officials were still assessing the damage, he said. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is investigating and trying the alleged masterminds of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which killed more than 500,000 people. Kennedy Ogetto, a defense attorney at the court, said the fire showed a "serious security lapse" on the part of the tribunal. There currently are six trials, involving 20 suspects, at the court.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 01:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
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#1
Sorry, this should have been under sub-Sahara
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 1:36 Comments ||
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#2
...Wonder if it was the same guys who torched the shipyard offices where the French CVN Charles DeGaulle was built when the French realized they'd been taken on that deal...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/03/2004 2:15 Comments ||
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#3
I guess we just found out which of the three little pigs wasn't contracted to build the evidence room for the UN genocide trials. Sorry, the Tigger molester story has negatively effected my outlook.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/03/2004 2:50 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
