News The Morning News
posted by on May 1 at 7:54 AM
Good Riddance: Aden Hashi Ayro, one of Al Qaeda’s top men and leader of its Somali contingent, has reportedly been killed.
Falling Short: Exxon Mobil earned $10.9 billion in the first quarter — short of what analysts predicted.
Money Well Spent: According to a report from the Institute of Education Sciences, kids who take part in the No Child Left Behind Act’s billion dollar Reading First program “scored no better on reading comprehension tests than peers in schools that don’t participate.”
Something to Make Your Blood Boil First Thing in the Morning: Afghan women don’t have it much better after the U.S. invasion:
Trafficked across the border from Pakistan with her 3-year-old son, Rukhma was handed to an Afghan who raped and abused her, then beat the toddler to death as she watched helplessly.He was jailed for 20 years for murder, but Rukhma ended up in prison too.
Rukhma, who doesn’t know her age but looks younger than 20, had put up with her mistreatment for three months last summer before seeking protection and justice from authorities. Instead she was given a four-year sentence on Dec. 5 for adultery and “escaping her house” in Pakistan, even though she says she was kidnapped and raped.
The fall of the Taliban six years ago heralded new rights for Afghan women: to go to school or get a job, and be protected under the law. Women’s rights are now enshrined in the constitution.
Yet except for a small urban elite, a woman fleeing domestic violence or accusing a man of rape herself often ends up the guilty party in the eyes of judges and prosecutors.
“Why am I here? I’m innocent,” Rukhma said, crying in a musty jail cell and cradling a baby daughter by her previous marriage whom she bore in prison. “It is cruel to have your son killed before your eyes and then to be imprisoned.”
In parts of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where stern social codes prevail, a woman who runs away from home is typically suspected of having taken a lover and can be prosecuted for adultery. Simply leaving her house without her family’s permission may be deemed an offense — as in Rukhma’s case — although it is not classified as such under Afghanistan’s penal code.
The chief prosecutor of eastern Nangarhar province who oversaw Rukhma’s case suggested she got off lightly.
“If my wife goes to the bazaar without my permission, I will kill her. This is our culture,” Abdul Qayum shouted scornfully during an interview in his office in the city of Jalalabad.
His colleagues laughed approvingly. “This is Afghanistan, not America,” Qayum said.
Roasted: Starbucks’ earnings down 21% in the second quarter.
Profiles in Courage, Stupid Regulations: Pfc. Monica Brown was awarded the Silver Star for acts of bravery and courage in Afghanistan. Then, days after Vice President Cheney pinned the medal on her, she was yanked from her unit because “Army restrictions on women in combat barred her from such missions.”
Blue Collar 007s: Spying, secret surveillance, and the International Association of Machinists District 751.
Be Prepared: Starting today, the Department of Homeland Security will be conducting an eight-day terror drill in Seattle.
Dept. of Me Buckling Over in Laughter: Tim Eyman has been forced to mortgage his home in order to fund his latest initiative.
On the Rise: Tuition for community college students.
Creepy Kids’ Show of the Day:
Interesting on Starbucks since we are in the MIDDLE OF SECOND QUARTER!!!!!!!
I hope to get an opportunity to mock the Department of Homeland Security and interfere with their drill.
I picture them carrying little shovels and wearing tin helmets for the drill...
Now that the weather is nice, I expect they'll station another "guard" at the reservoir at Volunteer Park. I think the winter weather was too much for him, because he disappeared about November.
So a misogynist society is liberated from a brutal regime where women don’t even get to go to school, but still remains a nasty misogynist society – and that’s the US military’s fault?
Yes, then by all means, bring back the Taliban! If we can't make deep cultural improvments we should roll back any improvments made.
raindrop, I know this has been asked many times before, but what the hell, I'll ask it again. What on Earth are you talking about?
@5: To Bradley's disingenuous lead-in (link text) to the Afghan story.
I'd vote against my mother's birthday if Tim Eyman's name was behind it.
Oh my...
@7: Well, thanks to Tim Eyman at least you can afford a mother's day present if you renew your car tabs in May.
@6
Disingenuous means 'giving a false appearance of frankness'. As in, Bradley didn't really mean that this should make your blood boil. And he didn't really mean that Afghan women don't have it much better off. But obviously he was not being disingenuous because, obviously, this would make anyone's blood boil, because obviously they don't have it much better off.And obviously nowhere does it say the US military is to blame, and nowhere does it say bring back the Taliban.
Look, dude, could you please make a little more effort? You're wasting everybody's time when post these random things.
The Eyman story will raise big money for him. Every attack on the man will build his support. Fight his ideas not his person. The HA types have helped him not hurt him.
The inference of the lead-in is that the U.S. invasion didn’t help Afghan women that much, and reading between the lines it also infers that it may not have been worth it. A more respectful lead-in, that honors our brave soldiers, should have been “Despite liberation from the Taliban, Afghan society still treats its women brutally.” OK enlenchos?
No, it's not OK. You sound like some Bill O'Reilly chickenhawk. But I can see I am wasting my time.
@9. raindrop, here's a nice story for you: when tim's measure passed, i ended up paying more to renew my tabs. i suspect anyone else driving an inexpensive vehicle experienced the same. so, no, i actually have less money. not only that, you shouldn't support an initiative just because it taxes you personally less.
Raindrop is a little oversensitive. The administration dropped the ball and failed to finish the job in Afghanistan because they were too obsessed with starting another failure in Iraq. That message should've been included in the headline. Afghani women are suffering thanks to assholes like Charlie Wilson and George W. Bush.
@15: I can agree with that.
Am I the only one who continues to notice that we seem to do a real good job blowing up all the #2 guys in Al-Qaeda, but they always are immediately replaced, presumably, by the #3 guy, allowing everybody else below to move up a slot?
(Hm, wonder if they all wear numbers on their uniforms, like The Beagle Boys?)
And it also makes me wonder - if we're so good at getting all these #2's-of-the-month, when are we going to get around to nailing that pesky #1 guy?
Comte, life is too much like a hurricane to wear numbers.
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).