It seems that a BBC reporter has ruffled the feathers of some of the Saudi women. I frequently read Nzingha's Soapbox because she gives a "frontline" view of living in Saudi that isn't tainted by the BS from American propaganda. She's there. She's living there, and she chose to be there. I'm not particularly thrilled with the name she and her "Mr. Man" chose for their son, but he's their kid...
What interests me about the article she posted about the swimming incident, isn't her sarcastic attitude, but one specific quote from one of the comments: "You should explain more about why segregation is valued and how women swim in Saudi under "safe" conditions islamically."
Think about this for a moment. These women WANT to have segregated (separate but equal?) swimming facilities. They WANT to not have the ability to swim whenever/wherever. They consider it PROTECTION.
This flys in the face of the mindset of We the Liberated Female People of the United States, and the whole concept of "They hate us because of our freedom." They don't WANT the freedoms we have.
I suspect this should have occurred to me earlier. What country, given the examples surrounding them on all sides, would stay in the 5th Century unless they WANTED to live in the 5th century? Given the opportunity to move forward, the examples all around to show them HOW to move forward, these folks have, not unlike the Amish, CHOSEN to renounce the benefits of freedom and choose to embrace their cultural and religious retardation with affection and determination.
And because of this, I wonder just how much we should feel "sorry" for any of their trials and tribulations. They've chosen to allow themselves to be forced into the black abaya in the equatorial heat. They've chosen to enslave themselves to their menfolk, chosen to take the "safe" road, rather than the more dangerous "free" road.
This is getting perilously close to a political statement about choosing safety over freedom...
621 days
"Sit up, join up, stir it up, get online, get in touch, find out who's raising hell and join them." Molly Ivins
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Akon loses Verizon Wireless Sponsorship!
Linky
WOOOOOOTTTT
Thanks Jules - made my day! *dances around*
Sometimes companies do the correct thing. They've even taken all his ringtones off their website already!
WOOOOOOTTTT
Thanks Jules - made my day! *dances around*
Sometimes companies do the correct thing. They've even taken all his ringtones off their website already!
Thin and Crappy
Pizzahut.com suxxors.
Last nite I did not want to cook, so I ordered a pizza online.
Build your own. So I did. Asked for "hand tossed" crust, which is a bit thicker and chewier.
Got "Thin and Crappy"
Like eating pizza off a matzo cracker. bleuch. If I wanted thin, I would have called Rosati's who make a nice thin-crust 'za with spicier cheese and you can also get CANNOLI!!!!!!!!!
Cannoli - a dessert, not some weird Denver Pizza-dumpling thing. Cannoli is sweet ricotta and bits of chocolate in a fried tube thingy. Second only to Tiramisu as my favorite Italian dessert.
I should have called Rosati's.
In gardening news, it looks like the peony that I thought had been stolen last year is going to make me 2 flowers this year. The buds are now fully 1/2 inch diameter and are starting to turn reddish, rather than just being little green knobbies. Woot!!
This week I plan to get every last one of the plantlets into the dirt so I can get moving on the other things that need doing around here. I plan to try and pick up a thistle-pricker-remover - a little tool thingy that lets you stab the ground and pull up a thistle by the roots without touching it - and then I'm going to try NOT to blow out my knee again getting the last 24 plantlets into the ground. So far everything else looks pretty good, so I'm crossing my fingers. I'm not real sure about the lime tree or the blueberry bush, but they're still probably going through transplant shock, so I'll give them another week or 2 to start showing some ambition and new growth.
It appears that the fur twins have decided to pretend they don't see the lime tree plant anymore. They've stopped yelling at me about it at least.
622 days
Last nite I did not want to cook, so I ordered a pizza online.
Build your own. So I did. Asked for "hand tossed" crust, which is a bit thicker and chewier.
Got "Thin and Crappy"
Like eating pizza off a matzo cracker. bleuch. If I wanted thin, I would have called Rosati's who make a nice thin-crust 'za with spicier cheese and you can also get CANNOLI!!!!!!!!!
Cannoli - a dessert, not some weird Denver Pizza-dumpling thing. Cannoli is sweet ricotta and bits of chocolate in a fried tube thingy. Second only to Tiramisu as my favorite Italian dessert.
I should have called Rosati's.
In gardening news, it looks like the peony that I thought had been stolen last year is going to make me 2 flowers this year. The buds are now fully 1/2 inch diameter and are starting to turn reddish, rather than just being little green knobbies. Woot!!
This week I plan to get every last one of the plantlets into the dirt so I can get moving on the other things that need doing around here. I plan to try and pick up a thistle-pricker-remover - a little tool thingy that lets you stab the ground and pull up a thistle by the roots without touching it - and then I'm going to try NOT to blow out my knee again getting the last 24 plantlets into the ground. So far everything else looks pretty good, so I'm crossing my fingers. I'm not real sure about the lime tree or the blueberry bush, but they're still probably going through transplant shock, so I'll give them another week or 2 to start showing some ambition and new growth.
It appears that the fur twins have decided to pretend they don't see the lime tree plant anymore. They've stopped yelling at me about it at least.
622 days
Monday, May 07, 2007
Oh hell, it's Monday
Actually, not that bad of a day. I really turned into pistachio pudding this weekend and had all the best of intentions and no energy to comply. This morning was gruesome, but I did manage to do ALL my morning chores, including a certain amount of mutilation of fabric into triangles for Bill's quilt, so all is good. Having to get up to go to work was enough impetus to force me to move instead of veg. Vegging all weekend was Not Good©.
I'd wanted to get all the seedlings/plants into the ground this weekend, but that just didn't happen. I'm still kind of tentative about putting any stress on that right knee, and since I don't have a "kneeling pad" like Mom and Gramma used to use when gardening, I'd have to kneel on concrete or hunker down and over-compress my kneecap which is what blew it out last Wednesday.
I did, however, get the tomato seedlings into big pots with their wire cages, and then put the big pots into the garden over spots that would ordinarily just grow weeds, so that should help keep the weeding to a minimum *cross fingers*
The seeds are still not sprouted out yet, but I think it will take a week or 2 or so for that, so I'm not worried. The cucumber plants look awesome, and even those little primrose that I thought had bitten the dirt have actually come back and look like they might survive. We shall see. I do need to get the butterfly plants, daylilies and the lavendar in out front very soon, however. The geraniums can probably wait a few more days. Gosh, I love geraniums - especially pink and white. I just hope my knee can put up with my digging holes for 24 more baby plants...
I tried to have lunch on Sunday at the Dysfunctional Dennys, but it was even more Dysfunctional than usual - stood there for 15 minutes being ignored while the manager refused to seat anyone and hovered over the cash register as if someone was going to steal it. I finally walked out, and on my way back to my car there was a family walking toward the door - I told them what just happened and told them if they were hungry, they might want to try another restaurant. They turned around and got in their car. I can't be positive, but I think another couple may have decided against "dining" there as well. So Dennys? Ya lost TWO (possibly 3)sets of revenue that way. Just sayin'.
623 days
I'd wanted to get all the seedlings/plants into the ground this weekend, but that just didn't happen. I'm still kind of tentative about putting any stress on that right knee, and since I don't have a "kneeling pad" like Mom and Gramma used to use when gardening, I'd have to kneel on concrete or hunker down and over-compress my kneecap which is what blew it out last Wednesday.
I did, however, get the tomato seedlings into big pots with their wire cages, and then put the big pots into the garden over spots that would ordinarily just grow weeds, so that should help keep the weeding to a minimum *cross fingers*
The seeds are still not sprouted out yet, but I think it will take a week or 2 or so for that, so I'm not worried. The cucumber plants look awesome, and even those little primrose that I thought had bitten the dirt have actually come back and look like they might survive. We shall see. I do need to get the butterfly plants, daylilies and the lavendar in out front very soon, however. The geraniums can probably wait a few more days. Gosh, I love geraniums - especially pink and white. I just hope my knee can put up with my digging holes for 24 more baby plants...
I tried to have lunch on Sunday at the Dysfunctional Dennys, but it was even more Dysfunctional than usual - stood there for 15 minutes being ignored while the manager refused to seat anyone and hovered over the cash register as if someone was going to steal it. I finally walked out, and on my way back to my car there was a family walking toward the door - I told them what just happened and told them if they were hungry, they might want to try another restaurant. They turned around and got in their car. I can't be positive, but I think another couple may have decided against "dining" there as well. So Dennys? Ya lost TWO (possibly 3)sets of revenue that way. Just sayin'.
623 days