March 31, 2004
The proper way to beat your wife
Special Report - Reform Project
March 22, 2004
No. 27
Muslim Clerics on the Religious Rulings Regarding Wife-Beating
By Steven Stalinsky & Y. Yehoshua*
Introduction
On January 14, 2004, Sheikh Muhammad Kamal Mustafa, the imam of the mosque of the city of Fuengirola, Costa del Sol, was sentenced by a Barcelona court to a 15 month suspended sentence and fined ?2160 for publishing his book 'The Woman in Islam.' In this book, the Egyptian-born Sheikh Mustafa writes, among other things, on wife-beating in accordance with Shar'ia law.
On pages 86-87, Mustafa states: "The [wife-]beating must never be in exaggerated, blind anger, in order to avoid serious harm [to the woman]." He adds, "It is forbidden to beat her on the sensitive parts of her body, such as the face, breast, abdomen, and head. Instead, she should be beaten on the arms and legs," using a "rod that must not be stiff, but slim and lightweight so that no wounds, scars, or bruises are caused." Similarly, "[the blows] must not be hard."
Mustafa noted in his book that the aim of the beating was to cause the woman to feel some emotional pain, without humiliating her or harming her physically. According to him, wife-beating must be the last resort to which the husband turns in punishing his wife, and is, according to the Qur'an, Chapter 4, Verse 34, the husband's third step when the wife is rebellious: First, he must reprimand her, without anger. Next, he must distance her from the conjugal bed. Only if these two methods fail should the husband turn to beating.
In his verdict, the judge said that Sheikh Mustafa's book contained incitement to violence against women, that today's society is completely different from society 1400 years ago, and that the sections of the book in which the sheikh wrote of wife-beating constitute a violation of the penal code and of women's constitutional rights. In his defense, Sheikh Mustafa's attorney argued that his client was not expressing his personal opinion, but only reiterating the writings of Islam from the 13th and 19th centuries.
The book, which sold around 3,000 copies in Islamic cultural centers across Spain, was removed from the shelves.
The following report will review the writings and statements of Muslim clerics and of other Islamic religious institutions that instead of condemning wife-beating, discuss it as a legitimate way of "disciplining" the wife, based on the Qur'an (4:34).
To view MEMRI's full report on religious rulings about wife-beating, please visit http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.c...ea=sr&ID=SR2704 .
* Steven Stalinsky is Executive Director of MEMRI; Y. Yehoshua is a Research Fellow at MEMRI.
*********************
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles
and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.
MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
E-Mail: memri@memri.org
www.memri.org
What a dipshit
Kerry Blames Bush for High Gas Prices
My biggest beef here is his plan to stop the flow of oil into the strategic reserves. It matters not that the price of oil is higher, you still have to keep filling it. Using the idea of dollar-cost-averaging, you put the oil in on a regular basis no matter what the price is. Kerry's plan shows he has little understanding of strategic foreign policy as well as the purpose of a US energy policy.
If we stop now, just when, will we begin pumping again? When it hits $28/bbl? Guess what, we're not in control of that price AND without the strategic oil reserve we have no bargaining chip against OPEC to pressure their price. Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water.
The dimocrats are right, the SoR does increase the price at the pump if you look at it only as the US consumption of oil and that price is fixed; however, it's not. Oil is a commodity with an important difference...OPEC artifically controls output and control price. The SoR; however, is a pressure on OPEC to stay in-bounds on pricing as we could open that up to US consumption for 100 days and spend nothing on OPEC. That would be enough to reverse embargo OPEC like they did to us in the 70's. A more likely scenario is to abruptly not buy as much OPEC oil and use the SoR to supplement, causing a glut of output and smashing prices.
However, keep in mind, with inflation factored in, a gallon of gas hasn't been cheaper in the US for many years. A 1981 adjusted price is $2.80/gallon.
Sen. Kerry...we're not the only ones filling our SoRs as fast as we can...China is in that game as well.
The Saudi-Sino Connection
China, Napoleon once remarked, is a sleeping giant, and "when it awakens the world will tremble."
China is now thoroughly awake. The economy of the world’s most populous country has been growing at a blistering rate of between 8 and 11 percent a year. Last year, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) superseded Mexico as the United States’ main trading partner. It also took Japan’s place as, after us, the second largest consumer of petroleum on the globe. ...
Full article here.
Economic Stats
I'm mirroring this guy's work, unchanged, because he's on a cable webspace and might be unavailable due to bandwidth restrictions.
My link.
Original link.
Nadeline Notsobright
From Drudge:
Former Sec of State Albright worried Bush is fueling terrorists' hate
Tue Mar 30 2004 19:45:48 ET
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a crowd at the Yale Divinity School Tuesday that she is concerned President Bush is fueling the hate of terrorist organizations.
She said the worrying is in response to the president suggesting that "Americans have a unique relationship with God or a better understanding of God's will than worshippers from other cultures and lands."
"From the beginning, the president has made it clear that we are at war with the terrorists and not with Islam. That is to his credit," Albright said.
"(But) it surely doesn't help when the American military official with responsibility for intelligence on al-Qaida claims that 'We are in the Army of God' and that George Bush was 'appointed by God,'" she said. The comments were made by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence.
Albright said she believed, as the Bush Administration did, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but she questioned the wisdom of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq.
"I did not believe there was a connection to al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein," Albright said. "I now do think that Iraq has become a magnet, a gathering ground for all various groups that hate us."
A handful of people protested Albright's visit.
Joan Cavanaugh, 50, of New Haven, a member of the Connecticut Peace Coalition, said Albright "set the table" for the current military action against Iraq when she was in the Clinton administration, and was responsible for the deaths of many children through its policies and sanctions.
Make them mad? Is she serious? One, I think evidence shows they're already "mad" at us, and two; who gives a flying fuck? I prefer not to break bread with a populace that has more in common with the Borg than me. Next, if by invading Iraq we've given the terrorists a place to gel into, all the better because, one, they're not here, and two they're there, in once place where it's easier to kill them.
I discredit Bush for coming out on Sept 16, 2001, and decreeing that Islam is a religion of peace. It is not, and his proclamation has painted him in a corner with regard to the war on terrorism.
PC bullshit has got to go. You've got to call a spade a spade.
another frenchie that gets it
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040329-085436-8381r.htm
March 29, 2004
Putin, you sure you want to get back into that game?
Last time we played this game, your economy couldn't keep up; and considering today's growth numbers (USA Today), you're not likely to fare better if we do it again.
Now listen, we can be friends or we can be enemies; you pick.
March 28, 2004
good day
Well, the carbs were off again; had them tuned too much for late summer of last year and in the cool weather this spring, they weren't sync'd at all. Solved that in under and hour, so what was I to do?
I thought I'd just take a quick ride around the neighborhood, but I ended up down near Bloomington, Indiana and found a little state forrest. The sign said camping so I thought I'd check it out. Well, the camping area sucked, but I decided to just follow the roads as I had a GPS. Well, the nice asphalt turned into nice gravel, then not so nice gravel, then mostly dirt, then mostly mud. It was like wrestling an 800 pound gorilla getting the FJ through that mess, but the GPS said I was close to the main road. Well, I had the GPS in 12 mile mode, so everything looked close. Spent about 20 miles on crappy roads, but I was kinda fun anyway...didn't encounter another vehicle for almost an hour.
Saw another FJ, looked like about an 88 or so; nice condition and passed a ton of harleys. I'm so looking forward to the riding season!
Found out that I've lost my insurance cards...oh well, I'll get new ones by the end of April.
Keep the rubber side down.
March 26, 2004
i rock
i actually got to break this one to drudge today!
was i the only one that sent in the anon tip to him? probably not, but we'll never know. it's kinda fun leaning about things before they hit the newsstands.
you can pick your friends...
but...
I'm not even going to tell you; just go click here.
have your forgotten?
if it doesn't still sting; if you're not still enraged, tell me why.
March 25, 2004
Supposedly Noam Chomsky's Blog
Looks legit, but I have no way to know for sure.
Leave you mind here before you click.
Georgia Senator, Zell Miller
Pretty much sums up my problem with the modern democrat party. Keep in mind, I truely believe that the majority of democrats today are closer to Kennedy democrats and nowhere near what we see on TV.
Quoted:
I was born a Democrat and I expect I’ll be a Democrat until the day I leave this earth. But I have grown mighty frustrated with the direction my party has taken over the last few years. National Democratic leaders today are moving further and further away from the principles that made our party great.
On tax cuts, on education reform, on adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, and most importantly on the war against terror – some national Democratic leaders are so eager to defeat George Bush that they don’t realize he’s acting on the ideals we have supported for years: promoting prosperity and equal opportunity; giving help to Americans who need it most; defending America’s security and promoting freedom.
Frankly I’ve had it up to here with the politicians who claim to represent my party but really represent nothing but special interest groups and their own partisan agendas.
I’d like people to know that all Democrats are not like the people they see squawking on their TV attacking the President. There are a lot of good, honorable Democrats all across America – even some here in Washington, DC – who are doing the work that made this party great – fighting for opportunity and freedom for all men and women, here in America and around the world.
Luckily, Democrats like me have a courageous and honorable leader that we’re proud to support. It just so happens that he has a little R next to his name.
March 24, 2004
9 and 10 year olds get it
Say the pledge every morning, it's worthwhile.
Read article.
US official religion: Scientology
Don't believe me? Read this.
Richard Clark is a lying asshat
This, from Clark in August 2002.
That is SO not what was portayed in the recent 60 Minutes interview. An interview, it turns out was little more than Viacom's sales pitch for the book as they own CBS and the publisher of the book. You think they'd at least disclose that.
When I was young...
Very good piece by Victor Davis Hanson.
March 22, 2004
Brilliant!
Heard today on a call-in to the Sean Hannity show:
"If there wasn't a terrorist link to Iraq then why are the terrorists now upset that we're there?"
How to destory america
You might not want to read this...it might make you think about the modern democrat party in ways they don't want.
Funniest thing I've heard all day
In announcing Yassin’s death, Hamas said, “(Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head.”
The Israelies might was well deliver the rest of the packages now.
Bwaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Endorsements you don't want
Man, I hope I'm never on the receiving end of such an endoresement:
Chomsky backs 'Bush-lite' Kerry
Painting the Bush Administration as "cruel and savage" rings hollow coming from a man who is a Khmer Rouge/Pol Pot apologist. I appreciate his linguist obervations, such as how we say "flashlight" and the britsh say "torch", or "color" vs "colour", or maybe "jew-hating communist" vs "political linguist", but I digress.
"Noam Chomsky, bringing agraian reform to a dictatorship near you."
--the internet
Reaction to the assination of Sheik Yassin
BRITAIN: Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary: “It is unacceptable. It is unjustified and it is very unlikely to achieve its objective. A measurable restraint is required and I don’t believe Israel will benefit from the fact that this morning an (elderly man) in a wheelchair has been the target of assassination”
FRANCE: Herve Ladsous, foreign ministry spokesman: “France condemns the action taken against Sheikh Yassin, just as it has always condemned the principle of any extra-judicial execution as contrary to international law. The attack bears a serious risk of increasing tensions in the whole of the region.”
FRANCE: Dominique de Villepin, Foreign Minister: “At a time when it is so important to mobilise ourselves to advance the peace process, such acts can only feed the spiral of violence”
RUSSIA: Alexander Yakovenko, Foreign Ministry spokesman: “Moscow is deeply concerned about the situation. It threatens a new wave of violence which could sabotage efforts to restart negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis by the ‘quartet’ of international mediators and key regional powers.”
GERMANY: Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister: “The situation is that everything must be done so that further escalation can be avoided. The government is deeply concerned about this development.”
EU: Javier Solana, Foreign policy chief: “This type of action does not contribute at all to create the conditions of peace. This is very, very bad news for the peace process. The policy of the European Union has been consistently condemnation of extra-judicial killing”
NOSE: Good riddance. You've now reaped what you have sowed. Now, for the rest of you, western countries and US included, stop being duplicitous. Isreal has every right to defend itself by pre-emtion, just as the US does. The only one who seems to get the real impact of this action is:
FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Benjamin Netanyahu: "Even if in the short term there will be a harsh response from Hamas, which is definitely possible, in the long term the effect will be to rein in Hamas and the rest of the terror organisations."
I've heard it best..."shit in one hand and wish in the other, and see which one fills up first". Props to the Senior Crutcher.
I think we've been hoodwinked
Campaign finance reform has been subverted and there isn't squat we can do about it. Have you noticed the number of books coming out, and I suggest will come out in the coming 8 months, concerning how bad this side or that side is? Hmmm....
My most recent beef is that moron "Terrorism Czar" on 60 minuites last night. Ex white house advisor, Dick Clark, is hawking a book...available today, conincidentally. This guy got demoted from a cabinet level office to a staff level with the Bush administration and I think the democrats went on a fishing expedition to find creeps like this and get 'em to write a book.
Strangely, his ascertations in the book that he was never granted audience with anyone to talk about terrorism until early September 2001 seem to debunk the democrat line that Clinton told Bush about Al-Qaeda and even handed them a plan on how to deal with it. Keep in mind, this guy was head of "terrorism" for Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr.
The problem with using book writers to send you political message (Dems and Reps), is you can't edit all of it for consistency.
March 21, 2004
whoops, our bad...
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A leader of a Palestinian militant group behind the drive-by killing of an Israeli jogger apologized on Saturday after the dead man was identified as an Israeli-Arab university student.
“The fighters thought he was a settler jogging in an area full of settlers. It was a mistake and we extend our apology to his family,” a leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group in President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, told Reuters.
Palestinian gunmen opened fire and killed the man on Friday night as he jogged in Jerusalem’s French Hill district, near the city’s Hebrew University. The al-Aqsa Brigades claimed the shooting in a statement released shortly afterwards.
On Saturday, the victim was identified as George Khoury, the son of prominent Israeli-Arab lawyer Elias Khoury. The 20-year-old was an economics student at Hebrew University.
“We will consider him as a martyr like hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces,” the al-Aqsa brigades leader said, adding that the group would send a letter of apology to Khoury’s family.
Here's a little more insight to this story. His father, the lawyer, has fought and won many cases against isreal concerning land rights issues, AND the jogger's grandfather was killed roughly 20 years ago by a palestinian terrorists. Could the terrorists fuck up any more than that?
March 19, 2004
A year later
We're a year removed from the start of war in iraq. Many things have been acomplished, many have been lost in the process. From our own church, PFC Jesse M. Halling was lost on June 7, 2003.
From the Indianapolis Star and News:
Even as a child, Halling wanted to be a soldier.
"Everything was about the military," said his mother, Pam Halling. "Ever since he was in kindergarten, drawing pictures of jets and helicopters and tanks. . . . It was just in him."
Halling, 19, Indianapolis, died in combat in Iraq. He was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.
Halling has been widely praised for his actions during the battle, ordering others in his unit to take cover while he returned fire until he was struck down by shrapnel.
"Jesse went over to Iraq to help a people have a freedom, to help a people have a peace," said the Rev. D. Michael Welch.
Personally, I don't know how Pam Halling can do it. Shortly after his death, she stood up in our church to accept the respect and admiration of the congregation and I was completely moved to tears. I'm sure her faith plays a large role and I'm sure in no small part, Father Mike plays the role of doctor to her soul. She's got quite a bit to be proud of though; her son, saved many by his actions that day.
March 17, 2004
The true light beer
Heard on Fox and Friends this morning:
Guinness has less calories than Bud Light!
Dammit! I'm drinking myself thinner every day.
The Story of St. Patrick
It's a long read; but go here for the info.
March 16, 2004
Warning on 9/11
Now, you all know the story about how Bush was warned about the 9/11 attacks, yet did nothing to stop them. I consider it laughable that the President of the United States would take that kind of a risk on his political capital; however...
Seems Sen. Kerry may have had a prior warning as well. For a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee; this was probably a major fuck up to blow this type of info off.
Now, I can no more blame Kerry for this than I can blame Bush because this was just a part of a thousand pieces that needed to be put together to see only part of the picture and 9/10 was definitely a different day than 9/11. I just thought you should know.
Another reason Guinnes is better
Scientific proof! Guinness bubbles sink!
March 15, 2004
New!
New items to the blog:
1) up by the graphic, i've got a quote randomizer
2) down on the left, i've got my mobog.com camera phone pictures. i just learned about this service on friday, so give me some time to get some content up there. you can comment on the pictures as well.
March 14, 2004
It was nice knowing you...
So long Spain, it was nice knowing you.
Al-Queda swayed your vote by terrorists acts days before the election and now you've elected socialists intent on cowtowing to threats.
You've gone down a road that'll be hard to reverse course from. I wish you luck...you're gonna need it.
God I hope the same thing doesn't happen here.
What the heck?
NASA Scheduled News Briefing About Unusual Solar Object
Word is that it's farther than Pluto by at least the distance to Pluto. How's that for forcing the limits of gravitational theory.
...and they want to de-orbit Hubble. Sean O'Keefe (current NASA administrator) needs to take a hike. I love the shuttle program as much as anyone, but his current insistance that the shuttle only fly when it can orbit with the space station is laughable. For those that don't know, that means no flights to Hubble as they're in very different orbits and there's no way the shuttle could be launched with enough maneuvering fuel to go from Hubble's orbit to the orbit of ISS. Just because you don't have the right stuff anymore Mr. O'Keefe, doesn't mean the rest of the astronauts don't...why don't you ask them?
March 11, 2004
what a frikin waste of my time
i was on the hook this week for jury duty because i was denied a deferral. obviously having no income for 2 weeks isn't a good enough excuse. what really pisses me off is that i was forced into a 2 week vacation for it. why?
well, i couldn't schedule a damn thing this week because i had to call in every day and ask if they needed me to show up the next day and i couldn't schedule anything for next week because the trials could go a whole week.
basically, i've been going to work and going through the motions. i've caught up on a few things, and did some general busywork, but i didn't do a single thing that brought in any meaningful income at all this week. tonight they said they're done for the week and i'm "released" from service, so tomorrow i've got to scramble to book some work. i think i'm going to send the county a bill for my time this week.
what really pisses me off is that i'll come up on the rolls again in 6 months and we'll do this all over again and i'll probably get picked that time, but guess what because of my political affiliation, my employment status, and my wife's employment; i won't even get impaneled.
of course there's a yang to all of this. someone has to do it for our justice system to work. i'm quite sure that if i was on the wrong end of the bench i'd want some intelligent people showing up to review the evidence and not just some moron off the street. maybe it ought to really be a jury of your peers, your direct peers... if you haven't been able to make a friend your whole life, you just get the judge. on second though, the idea of my fate resting in the hands of you bozos makes me cringe.
March 04, 2004
Keep your eyes open
If anyone finds a 1991-1993 Mitsubishi Eclipse with a 2.0L engine and a 5-speed in decent shape...let me know. I've done the ebay thing and they're all either trashed or turned into Fast & Furious cars...not what I'm looking for.
What did I say about OPEC, Redux?
Original Post: What did I say about OPEC?
Here's the problem. As the article states, the winter months normally bump $6 per barrel due to increased demand. When spring comes, that $34/barrel is gonna be $28. Still too high, if they don't cheat. With the extra $6/barrel price premium in force now, I'm predicting now that the member countries are going to "get while the gettin's good" and keep their output up "secretly". To the detriment of the OPEC organization, they're output is going to affect the futures market for spring through fall, most likely pushing prices downward of $22/barrel or less.
Obviously, the member countries are cheating...this is just their way of sweeping that fact under the rug and making it look like OPEC is still in control. The sad fact is, refining capacity it going to take a while to inhale this quantity (the cheating on top of the now authorized cheating) and translate it into lower prices...probably 90 days.