We have yet another story of a rape victim subjected to a demand for an honor killing in a traditional Muslim area. Kainat Soomro was gang-raped by four men at the age of 13. According to their religious and cultural traditions, her village classed her as a “Kari” or “black virgin” and ordered her killed. The family was attacked by the four men and other villagers and one of the sons was murdered after they refused to carry out the “honor” killing.
Category: International
Submitted by Charlton Stanley (Otteray Scribe) guest blogger
6 June 1944, Sword Beach, Normandy
June 6 marks the anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy, and the beginning of the end for World War II. Thousands of scared kids racing though red-stained sea water onto red-stained sand. Some made it off the beach that day, and some never even made it out of the water onto dry land. Of all those thousands of scared kids, there was one that stood out from most of the rest. Twenty-one year-old Private Bill Millin, “The Mad Piper of D-Day.” He was assigned to the Highland Light Infantry, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, No. 4 Commando. On that fateful day, he was personal piper to Brigadier Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, commander of 1 Special Service Brigade. When he was assigned to pipe the troops ashore, Private Millin at first declined, reminding his commanding officer that it was against British War Office regulations. Lord Lovat replied, “Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.” Although pipers had been used in battle for centuries, the official position of the British War Office was that the pipes were to be restricted to rear areas. The reason for the policy was that too many pipers had been killed during WW-I after the enemy figured out how much a good piper was worth in morale for the Highland troops nicknamed the “Ladies From Hell.” It was said that a good piper was worth an extra five hundred men due to the morale boost for the Highland troops upon hearing the skirling of the pipes.
15th Lord Lovat
As they were ready to disembark from their landing craft, Lord Lovat asked Private Bill Millin to play Hielan’ Laddie, a tune also known as Highland Laddie. So Private Millin played the ancient march as the troops waded ashore on Sword Beach. As he stepped off the landing craft ramp into the water, his kilt floated up around him like a ballerina’s tutu. The soldier next to him was shot in the face and killed instantly, his body bumping against the piper’s bare legs. As tradition dictated, he marched up and down the beach, standing erect with his pipes, while all those around him were taking cover as best they could. Later, he led them as they left the beach, heading inland, piping Road to the Isles.
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
When I started as a college student about 50 years ago I took the Sociology I course as a required subject. There is little I remember from that course and less I remember about the instructor, except for his introductory words on the first day of class. To paraphrase him he said: “You will be taking a lot of courses in what are called the Social Sciences. Approach them all, including mine, with skepticism because they really aren’t science courses like those you’ve learned as a high school student. They will spend a lot of lecture time though trying to prove they are truly scientific, don’t believe them”. His clear meaning was that although the Social Sciences try to operate as if they are using the scientific method of experiments/research to prove theories, most of the work done is skewed to prove the theory of choice by those doing the research. In the five decades since that lecture my own experience and reading has taught me how true the advice from that long forgotten Sociology instructor is.
The social science that has my attention at the moment is Economics. I’ve read many an economist, from all points on the political spectrum and frankly while I favor those such as Krugman and Baker, I take most of what they say as opinion, rather than scientifically determined truth. Yes I’ve even read “Freakonomics” by Levitt and Dubner and the follow-up “Superfreakonomics” and while they were good reads I see them as not only bad science, but a conflation of economics with other social sciences that is superficial at best. This is really the problem with many economists and their theories. They presume to divine human behavior via the prism of economic theory. In the end their proofs are merely retrofitting their pre-judgments. That brings me to the “Austerity” movement which has hampered the recovery from the economic “depression” brought on by the wars and tax reductions of the Bush years, while it has also caused a crisis worldwide through its imposition upon many nations. The foundation research that has justified this “Austerity” movement came from two Harvard Professors: Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. A University of Massachusetts student Thomas Herndon found that their work was filled with mathematical errors in their research spreadsheets. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/reinhart-rogoff-austerity-research-errors_n_3094015.html Their spreadsheets were their “proofs” that economic austerity promotes economic recovery and this theory, long held by many economists, is the basis for the imposition of austerity onto so many Nation’s economies and is the source of bitter national debate in our own. Though I will present some overview and links amplifying “austerity’s” false assumptions, my interest is in presenting my view on why the powers that be have imposed this doctrine, whose effects fall squarely upon 99% of the people of these nations, leaving the wealthiest unscathed. Continue reading “The Austerity Conspiracy”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
The idea for this guest blog came from Anonymously Yours, who has been around at Jonathan Turley’s Blog, for at least as long as I have. We have had an E Mail relationship, offline for many years. He sent me the link that I’ll be basically using and I think his judgment was on the money. The topic is George Washington’s Farewell Address, how prescient our First President was and how much good advice he gave that we should heed today, after the passage of 218 years.
Like every other American child what I learned about George Washington came from school and little else. When I started learning about him and the revolutionary war, it was common when speaking about him to call him “The Father of Our Country”. As the years passed this description has seemingly fallen out of consciousness and we usually only see him referenced wearing a white wig and a tri-corn hat on President’s Day selling cars. Certainly too, as my education progressed through High School and College, the view of Washington as one of our Founding Father’s was diminished as compared to his more glamorous and brilliant cohort among the Founding Fathers, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison. It is easy to see why this change came about. When you think of Washington, most would see the famous portrait I’ve used as a picture above. The portrait shows a prim-mouthed, rather dour man with a wig. History has given us certain personal details like his famous wooden false teeth. History has also supplied a childish, hagiographic mythology that he never told a lie and threw a coin across the Potomac. There is even some debate about his competence as a General. Indeed, the traitor Benedict Arnold is considered by many to be the best military mind on our side during the Revolution.
So when AY sent me his E Mail, I was at first skeptical about the project until I read the link. While in some sense I knew about his Farewell Address in the back of my mind, rereading it and the commentary on it caused me to rethink George Washington. As I see now he was a great man, in a true sense and he at least gave this country a good start. He also made a contribution regarding how he felt this country should comport itself that is relevant today, although certainly not heeded. Let’s explore Washington’s message and see what wisdom we can draw from it today, or should have drawn in the ensuing 218 years since it was written. Continue reading “The Father of Our Country”
Many people in the world have been waiting for the departure of extremist Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. From the sounds of his likely replacement, Saeed Jalili, some may look back with longing. Jalili is a former Revolutionary Guard who continues the extremist Islamic principles of governance of his predecessor. This week, he promised to “defend the rights of women as mothers” as opposed to what he referred to as “economic context” of feminists and the West. Men will continue of course to be defined as men as opposed to fathers.
The Catholic Church’s top exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth is calling on Pope Francis to relax current limits on priests performing exorcisms. He insists that the demand of the faithful for exorcisms is rising and the Church needs to increase the supply of the rites. For his own part, Amorth now claims to have sent 160,000 demons to hell — that is over 1818 a year or roughly 5 a day or one demon every 4.8 hours every day every week every month.
There is an exciting discovery out of Siberia where Russian scientists have discovered a fully-grown female mammoth preserved in the ice. What is different is that not only does this animal have well-preserved muscle tissue but actual liquid blood. Yet, the godless scientists at the Institute of Applied Ecology are likely to be disappointed. Scientists were not only surprised to find running blood after pricking the body but found that the blood continued to run in the 10°C below zero temperature at the site. That leads them to believe that the mammoth’s blood has some type of “cryo-protective properties” previously unknown to scientists.
Continue reading “Russian Scientists Discover Fully-Grown Mammoth With Running Blood”
The Iranian government is continuing its crackdown on non-Muslim faiths this month with a shocking arrest of a minister in the middle of a service at Iran’s largest Persian-language Pentecostal church. One can only imagine the response of Muslims in the country if a Muslim cleric was arrested in the middle of a service in another country. However, the Iranian government pulled Pastor Robert Asserian off the altar and literally dragged him out of the church. The move is viewed as a warning to non-Muslims before the June 14 presidential election to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Continue reading “Chinese Teen Identified In Desecration Of 3,500 Luxor Temple”
There is an interesting conflict that has arisen between Interpol and the Putin government. Putin’s government has demanded the arrest of UK-based fund manager William Browder for his alleged tax evasion and told Interpol to put him on its list of wanted individuals. In a rare denial, Interpol decided that the Putin regime was pursuing Browder for offenses “of a predominantly political nature” and refused to assist the Russians.
Continue reading “Interpol Rebuffs Putin On Demand For Whistleblower’s Arrest”
Truong Duy Nhat, 49, is a leading blogger in Vietnam who has been challenging the government on its authoritarian laws. The Communist government has now responded by arresting him for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state.” This truly Orwellian charge could result in a seven year sentence for the blogger.
Continue reading “Leading Blogger Arrested In Vietnam In Major Crackdown On Free Speech”
As many on this blog know, I am not a big fan of Roman Polanski and his successful evasion of arrest for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Many folks in France continue to rally behind Polanski who has successfully fought extradition for decades. Now, during the unveiling of his movie “Venus in Fur,” a satire on sexism starring his wife Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski decried the loss of real women and how birth control pills are “masculinising” women. Of course, it is some small degree of progress that Polanski is actually focusing on fully grown women at this point. Yet, most women would find him a rather unwelcomed expert on anything dealing with females given his continued fugitive status as a child rapist.
Continue reading “Femininity and The Felon: Polanski Laments How Pill Is “Masculinising” Women”
A tourist returning from Egypt posted this picture on Reddit and says that a Chinese kid had carved his name on the wall of the 3000 year old Luxor Temple in Egypt. As a history nut, such acts fill me with rage. If true, I fail to see how the parents or guardians or friends would not have seen such an act of vandalism.
Continue reading “Tagging Tut: Tourist Defaces Luxor Temple Wall”
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
Recently I wrote an article that discussed how the FDIC and the Bank of England had written a joint paper agreeing on how to deal with failing large banks in the post Dodd-Frank world. Banksters In my research for a follow-up to that article, I discovered that Congress was busy at work trying to do everything in its power to water down or eviscerate Dodd-Frank. I guess I should not be surprised that Congress might be trying to defeat a law that was passed in an attempt to make sure that ordinary citizens would not be asked to bail out the large banks once again. While Dodd-Frank is far from perfect, it is a step in the right direction. At least for the taxpayers. Continue reading “Do the Big Banks Control Everything?”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
About one year into Barack Obama’s first term as President I began calling the White House demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder should be fired. I was disturbed by the lack of prosecutions and by the trend towards stricter enforcement of the Drug Laws. Clearly this was not the change I envisioned from a Constitutional Law professor, or his Attorney General. I guess my support in the election wasn’t important enough to get The President to hear my plea to rid himself and us, of both Holder and Geithner. Here we are now more than four years later and both of these bozos are still on the job and doing harm to our Constitution and our economy. With the Associated Press eavesdropping scandal we have just the latest contretemps committed by the Justice Department and its hapless leader. Having lived through Attorney General’s John Mitchell and Ed Meese, I understand full well the importance of the position and how if it is filled with the wrong man mischief will arise. Eric Holder is in the tradition of both these men since he too seems nonplussed when it comes to upholding the constitution. This article was in reaction to reading about Holder signing off on the AP probe in Thursday’s Huffington Post, I give credit to them for this story and I will provide links. Here are six instances of Holder’s using his office to achieve what I see as disastrously wrong actions. Continue reading “Eric Holder Should Go!”