Islamic Law: Marital rape gets the green light in Afghanistan UPDATE

Back in April of this year, I reported on the passing of draconian marital laws in Afghanistan, by President Hamid Karzai.

I am happy to say the leaders of Afghanistan listened to the national hue and cry over the passing of such laws, and have since reformed the marriage laws.

Is it perfect? By no means. Is it better than it was? Yes. Does Afghanistan, and for that matter nearly all Islamic nations, have a long ways to go before achieving equality and respect between men and women? Good God yes.

But remember, every change must begin with a single first step.

Islamic Law: Marital rape gets the green light in Afghanistan

I have sat here for ten minuets, trying to find the words to describe just how utterly ashamed and angry I am, and how news like Afghani President Hamid Karzai signing Islamic Law into effect scares the hell out of me.

Did you know that Canadian and European governments have considered allowing Sharia laws to their systems in order to be more inclusive and supportive of Muslims, and so as not to be seen as unwelcoming or prejudice?

How would you like to have laws that:

"[make] it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances," or "[require] a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school," or "[make] it illegal for a woman to refuse to 'make herself up' or 'dress up' if that is what her husband wants"?

Well, news flash: laws like that just became reality for Afghani women.

Barack Obama: Change you can believe in (and fear)

This is a comment in response to the Op-Ed piece by Maureen Dowd titled, "The First Shrink."

"April 05, 2009 3:15 pm

I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten - fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back. Why?

We learn that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has 'loaned' two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom, or why, or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of 'we the people', who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and we no longer teach our founding documents, showing why we are exceptional and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, and school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?
We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so 'controversial' that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman!). Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago? We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then allow mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government, and our education system is worse than a joke. (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x ten. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion, an enemy who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.
Now we have elected President a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling, if not downright scary. Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a 'mandatory civilian defense force' stronger than our military for use inside our borders. No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over, and then demand he explain it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important to the media.
Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: change. Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now! This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning."

Tom Woods, Professor, Missouri

Charles Krauthammer: Pres. Obama's kissing Middle East ass

Shit. A conservative I agree with? What is the world coming to.

But seriously. I actually don't think he went far enough. Is America enemies with the "Muslim world?" No. But here is a list of things I think we should be enemies of:

Killing children just because they are Jewish
Beheading bus riders
Religious persecution
Again, killing children
Infringing on Americans rights ON American soil
Throwing family members out of windows
Killing aide workers
Attacking people based on their sexual orientation
Beheading pro-government tribal leaders
Abusing societies disaffected

I could go one but I got tired of copy/pasting links. But you should get my drift. Was the Iraq war a mistake and thoroughly mishandled? Dear God yes. Was Afganistan mishandled? Again, yes.

But at what point are Americans and other "kum-bi-ya why can't we all just get along" left-wing nut jobs understand that not everyone can be friends with everyone? There are times when one side's "philosophy" is just so out of whack, that you have to step in and say, "hey, I'm not perfect, but even I know what you're doing is FUBAR and I'm going to have to impose my will on you."

No, America isn't enemies with Muslims everywhere or even Islam. But we should be enemies of the evil actions committed in the name of the "Muslim world" or Islam.

And damn if we should apologize for doing what we think is right to stop atrocities such as those listed above.

Russian Roulette with the future

I had plans for this blog. It was supposed to be my corner for conversation on random world events and things I see in the news that interest me for good or for ill.

But, since the debacle that is our presidential election, it has turned into my corner to develop as a conscious voter.

Recently, my mother and I were talking about the candidates, foreign policy, terrorism, and Islam. My mother is two things: 1. The most knowledgeable about Islam as a religion, culture, and way of life than anyone who hasn't earned their degree in such studies, and 2. very opinionated.

She is, I think, going to vote for Senator McCain in November. Her reasoning for this comes down to security:
1. Nothing else matters if America is, as she will likely be, attacked again.
2. This future attack will come from the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who want to watch the West burn.
3. This attack will be better orchestrated and more powerful and more lethal than those of 9/11.

She believes that Senator Obama is naive and does not fully appreciate the threat posed by Islamic followers and states. She believes that Senator McCain has a better understanding, and will take those threats more seriously, and will be more likely to do whatever it takes to ensure America's safety.

I am torn. I want to elect a president who will take care of Americans first by improving health care, by improving chances for education, by reducing our foreign debt, by promoting green initiatives, etc.

But what good is all this if there are forces out there hell bent on destroying or subverting our way of life and very existence?

Threat to behead Canadian Prime Minister
60 Hindu's Killed in train fire
Homeless man beaten for eating during Ramadan
Father stabs daughter and crushes her head with a rock for seeing her husband

What do I do?