If you think that American flight attendants have become a bit heavy handed, be grateful that you don’t fly Saudi Arabian Airlines flight. A man who refused to put his cigarette out on a flight to Jeddah was sentenced to 30 lashes.
The man reportedly said that he was on his way to a clinic to stop smoking. This would fall in the category of adverse therapy.
In some way, he got off easy. In April 2008, a man was sentenced to 50 lashes for smoking on board a Dammam-Riyadh Saudi flight.
I notice that certain people are posting the same comments on every thread. This is a bit annoying since it detracts from the flow of the commentary. With regard to the issue of conservatism, I am struck by the fact that most of the so-called conservatives who post display a serious ignorance of classical conservatism. One of my favorite writers is Edmund Burke. For those of you who are truly interested in the foundations of conservative principles, Burke would be a great place to start.
On a serious note, this story points to one of the major problems confronting the west in its relations with the Middle East. Wildly divergent cultures have produced wildly divergent legal systems. The demands of trade have influenced commercial law to a great extent, but laws governing relations among individuals and punishment exacted for criminal violations are still grounded in Islamic fundamentalism. That is why we see draconian punishment for petty crimes. It is also why we see increasing demands to outlaw speech deemed “offensive” to Islam. Saudi Arabia is an excellent example of why theocracies are a bad idea and why we need to restore the separation of church and state in this country.
If you want to know how I define liberty, read Jean-Jacques Rousseau. To save you time, I’m a collectivist.
There is a difference between a real conservative, like FFLEO, and the evil that has co-opted both the label “conservative” and the GOP it would seem. I like real actual conservatives. IRL and here too. We have things we do actually agree on. Two of those things are that equity means the law and the Constitution applies to all men, ALL, with no exception and that torture is a crime as defined by American jurisprudence. No, some forms of conservatism have admirable principles like fiscal conservatism – a principle that is now in obvious abandonment by those “conservatives”, the Neocons, who have driven not only this country but a once great party into the ditch. Eisenhower rocked. Since then, eh, not so good, but I digress. You want to know who I feel sorriest for as a “political group”? It’s not the Dems. It’s not the Indies. It’s people like FFLEO, people who stood by their party for YEARS trusting that the GOP was working in their best interests and for the common good only to find out, oops, I guess they weren’t! Base betrayal by people riding on their coattails. People who disagree with my arguments are not ipso facto anti-liberty or anti-liberal. Just one’s who tote the Neocon Propaganda Line, the revisionists, the apologists, the ones who think torture is just groovy and that Empire is some kind of game without consequence. Those people are not only anti-liberty and anti-liberal, they are anti-conservative and anti-American. A political cancer that must be pressed into omission or excised before the body politic dies. They chose propaganda as a tool? I know how to fight propaganda. With fact and logic or by making the purveyors of Neocon poison to destruct in public displays of the blackness in their hearts. To preserve liberty and the Constitution, it is my duty to fight it. As a man who believes in justice and the common good, it is my duty to fight against injustice and evil = even when, as they say in the movies, “The caller is in the house!” No, mere disagreement is not the threshold criteria.
Budda
I wonder if you understand the definition of liberty. It sounds to me like you think anyone who is a conservative is against liberty somehow, just because they dont agree with you.
Bob, as usual you speak the Lordship’s twisted gospel. Hallelujah!
According to Lord Scalia, there is no such thing as “proportionality” in American jurisprudence; especially when it concerns that beastly predicate known as “cruel and unusual” punishment.
Nay, our Lord, epistemic whiz that he is, attempted to convince the world with his opinion in Harmelin v. Michigan that one can arrive at the predicates ‘cruel and unusual’ without a judgment of ‘proportionality.’
Thus, according to his Lordship, 30 lashes for lighting up on a flight isn’t really punishment at all.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
ROFLMAO
Oh I need to stop. I think I just ruptured a kidney.
Isn’t that just adorable! I think I’ll just sit back and wait for Patty or Jill to show you the error of your ways on that one, cupcake. If they see that? It has been said Hell hath no fury . . . Enjoy!
Nothing against females, I own one.
Buddha:
are you male or female, i thought you might be a male at first but the more I read I think you are probably a female.
Sorry, Chris, but if you think it’s hilarious, why would you want me to stop? That’s illogical on its face. I’ve always operated under the impression hilarity was entertaining. Besides, I get disagreed with all the time by civil, intelligent, reasonable humans who do have differing thought than myself (mespo, rafflaw, Vince T, Patty, Jill, the Mike’s A & S, FFLEO, et al and polite strangers). I respond to them kind. But it’s a little like TV. It’s still a kind of free country. If you don’t like troll bashing or lessons in Neocon propaganda, attempts at historical revisionism and illogic, please skip past those posts. Change the channel. I won’t be offended. Selective reading is possible. Ask Gyges. As for your concern over my state of calm, thank you for caring.
I think it is hilarious when i come on this site and Budda is getting crazy because people have different opinions than he does. He starts name calling, and being belligerent. Calm down dude.
What? Me, worry? snicker
You may have stopped being directly threatening, but you still didn’t learn where that path leads, did you?
You are consistent. I’ll give you that.
And don’t act like predator. I won’t call attention to it.
I said doctorate. Juris Doctorate, wise ass. No dissertation required.
i did not call you brother, did not even think about it.
But for the record you probably dont even have a PhD,
Buddha if you are worried that I would come and kick your ass you dont need to, you could kick my ass 6 ways to sunday with one arm tied around your back and probably standing on one leg to boot. I will let you guess why. You seem to be so good at guessing and whipping up the psyhcologizing.
I maybe an asshole but I am no predator, you on the other hand prey on the simple minded and dimwitted with your empty prose.
Never call me brother. That is one thing we most certainly are not. For your information, it’s not called “ass kissing”. It’s called a honey pot. Use bait when you can’t get what you what via confrontation. You attempted to illicit more personal information by appealing to my vanity or ego, neither of which works. You’re a known demonstrated aggressor. You think you’re being a clever little predator. It’s kind of cute.
Amen to that!
sigh
Buddha teaches us that difficult people are a blessing. They teach us the value of patience.
Buddha:
all bs aside
what area of study for the PhD? Is your disertation available? I would like to read it as long as it isnt something about the socialogical ramifications for equalization of wages paid to ghetto youth.
I was thinking about doing one after my masters, but every single person I talked with said they would not do it again and that they should have gone to work instead.
out of curiosity have you found it to be the same?
no this is not an ass kissing.
soooooooooooooWEEEEEEEEEE Go pig go!
My grandfather had a 4th grade education. They were Louisiana sharecroppers before he left for the South Pacific in WWII. My father was the first member of the family to go to college. I’m the only person in my family with a doctorate.
There’s a difference between rural and redneck. Thanks for illustrating that point as well.