Dinah Lord

Afghan prez caves to Shia pressure signs Article 132 and legalizes rape

And there's not a peep out of anybody about it... and where's First Woman Michelle at on the subject?  Eating pie in the White House with Oprah and talking about her abs.

Article 132 requires women to obey their husband's sexual demands and stipulates that a man can expect to have sex with his wife at least "once every four nights" when travelling, unless they are ill. The law also gives men preferential inheritance rights, easier access to divorce, and priority in court.

Keeping them bagged, barefoot and pregnant->

From the Independent.  

Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has signed a law which "legalises" rape, women's groups and the United Nations warn. Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August.

In a massive blow for women's rights, the new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, according to UN papers seen by The Independent.

"It is one of the worst bills passed by the parliament this century," fumed Shinkai Karokhail, a woman MP who campaigned against the legislation. "It is totally against women's rights. This law makes women more vulnerable."

...

The bill lay dormant for more than a year, but in February it was rushed through parliament as President Karzai sought allies in a constitutional row over the upcoming election. Senator Humeira Namati claimed it wasn't even read out in the Upper House, let alone debated, before it was passed to the Supreme Court. "They accused me of being an unbeliever," she said.

Details of the law emerged after Mr Karzai was endorsed by Afghanistan's Supreme Court to stay in power until elections scheduled in August. Some MPs claimed President Karzai was under pressure from Iran, which maintains a close relationship with Afghanistan's Shias. The most controversial parts of the law deal explicitly with sexual relations. Article 132 requires women to obey their husband's sexual demands and stipulates that a man can expect to have sex with his wife at least "once every four nights" when travelling, unless they are ill. The law also gives men preferential inheritance rights, easier access to divorce, and priority in court.

You'll be happy to know that "a British Embassy spokesman said diplomats had raised concerns at a senior level."  Well, isn't that big of them. 

The things you find in your email box...Barack's mama did porno shots?

Hold up there.  Rec'd this in the email box from The Wicked Stepmother.

(I'm happy to advise that this scurrilous gossip brought to you in honor of every rotten story ever published about the Bush family.)

Can you identify this woman? 

A famous porn star? 

A stripper?

A layout in a cheap men's magazine?

Perhaps a hooker? 

Snopes has the safe for work photos.

For real or faux? 

(I vote for fauxtoshopped unless somebody can prove me wrong.)

Looks like the jury's still out according to Snopes.

The next financial shoe to drop? Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Wondering what the next financial explosion is going to be?   Wonder no more.  BOHICA alert.

Let me introduce you to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).  What's that you say?

From the PBCG website

PBGC is a federal corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. It currently protects the pensions of nearly 44 million American workers and retirees in more than 29,000 private single-employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. PBGC receives no funds from general tax revenues. Operations are financed by insurance premiums set by Congress and paid by sponsors of defined benefit plans, investment income, assets from pension plans trusteed by PBGC, and recoveries from the companies formerly responsible for the plans.

Why is that a problem?  Should Obama's 60 day ultimatum fail to yield the desired results, GM will be forced into bankruptcy and the PBCG would be the government agency that would then be responsible for covering GM's pension obligations.  And PBCG is ALREADY short of the cash needed to fund it's CURRENT pension obligations.

From the Economist:  Is the PBCG next?

Plummeting asset returns plus turmoil-stricken automobile and airline industries is a recipe for disaster. Jeffrey Brown reckons the PBGC is currently $14 billion short of the cash it will need to cover pension obligations. In ten years the shortfall could be as much as $100 billion. There is some good news; GM claims its combined plan is currently over-funded and not in danger of being turned over to the PBGC (assuming the firm does not go bankrupt)

Oh really?  The Obama administration said, "bankruptcy is not the goal," although there may be a "role for a court-supervised process to effect the restructuring ... different from Chapter 11."   (editor's note:  Kind of like not calling the war on terror the war on terror.)

But there's more bad news to come:

Pension insurer shifted to stocks.

Just months before the start of last year's stock market collapse, the federal agency that insures the retirement funds of 44 million Americans departed from its conservative investment strategy and decided to put much of its $64 billion insurance fund into stocks.

Switching from a heavy reliance on bonds, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation decided to pour billions of dollars into speculative investments such as stocks in emerging foreign markets, real estate, and private equity funds.

The agency refused to say how much of the new investment strategy has been implemented or how the fund has fared during the downturn. The agency would only say that its fund was down 6.5 percent - and all of its stock-related investments were down 23 percent - as of last Sept. 30, the end of its fiscal year. But that was before most of the recent stock market decline and just before the investment switch was scheduled to begin in earnest.

No statistics on the fund's subsequent performance were released. Nonetheless, analysts expressed concern that large portions of the trust fund might have been lost at a time when many private pension plans are suffering major losses. The guarantee fund would be the only way to cover the plans if their companies go into bankruptcy.

Wondering if your pension is covered under this plan?  You can check here.

And yes, the moonbats are already blaming George Bush.

Help me out here - am I reading this correctly?  Is the PBGC modifying their privacy rules so they can conduct criminal, civil and administrative investigations?  Tell me I'm not reading this right.

SUMMARY: This document provides notice of a proposed new Privacy Act system of records. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is establishing a new system of records entitled "PBGC-17, Office of Inspector General Investigative File System--PBGC," subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended. The information from the new system of records will be used by the PBGC's Office of Inspector General to conduct criminal, civil, and administrative investigations, and will contain identifying information about potential subjects and sources.

DATES: Comments on the new system of records and proposed routine uses must be received on or before April 29, 2009. The new system of records will become effective on May 14, 2009 without further notice, unless comments result in a contrary determination and a notice is published to that effect.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods: . Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the Web site instructions for submitting comments.

Attn ladies: Be sure and get the latest in Iranian fashion - the National Chador.

From Payvand:

"The Islamic Republic has come to the conclusion in recent years that it has not done enough … The solution is to invent a new fashion, which is compatible with religion and can incorporate aesthetics within traditional patriarchal norms"

The answer?  The NATIONAL CHADOR.

The "national" or "student" chador, with its decorated sleeves, is not only a more elegant take on the traditional garment, but is also cut to allow greater freedom of movement. There are other advantages, too.

 

For example, it is possible to wear long boots underneath, which you could not normally do without the morality police noticing.

...

The chador is part of a culture that wants women to be protected and hidden, a culture that is uncomfortable with women being easily visible in the public arena. However, clothes which offer greater freedom of movement – such as the manteau – have that women appear more in public and allowed them to do jobs that were previously monopolised by men.

 

Fattaneh Jenabi, the original designer of the national chador, explains the problems women face when wearing a traditional chador.

 

"We usually use our hands to secure the chador around our waists when we are getting into a car or climbing stairs, revealing our figures and the curves of our bodies, which is something women do not like to do," she said.

 

"At other times, many women have to keep their chador in place with their teeth when they are returning from shopping so that they can hold their bags with their hands. It's also a problem when a woman wearing a chador has to carry her baby's things as well as her own and has to manage a chador which is loose on all sides."

 

Her version, she says, has dealt with these drawbacks.

 

"It is not a new fashion. It is the same normal chador, but it does not have the problems of the previous design. The front of this chador is completely closed with hidden buttons. That means you can wear it without a long dress underneath, so it is very good in the summer," she went on.

 

"On the other hand, the sleeve design gives women more freedom so that they can … carry on with their normal activities."

All while being completely enclosed in a sack.   Not my idea of fun.

Turkey: Muslim women told "Prevent honor killings..."

This family of sisters said there had been an honour killing in their village, in one of the most patriarchal areas of Kurdish Turkey, and they live in constant fear

Just go kill yourself.

When Elif's father told her she had to kill herself in order to spare him from a prison sentence for her murder, she considered it long and hard. "I loved my father so much, I was ready to commit suicide for him even though I hadn't done anything wrong," the 18-year-old said. "But I just couldn't go through with it. I love life too much."

All Elif had done was simply decline the offer of an arranged marriage with an older man, telling her parents she wanted to continue her education. That act of disobedience was seen as bringing dishonour on her whole family – a crime punishable by death. "I managed to escape. When I was at school, a few girls I knew were killed by their families in the name of honour – one of them for simply receiving a text message from a boy," Elif said.

So-called "honour killings" in Turkey have reached record levels. According to government figures, there are more than 200 a year – half of all the murders committed in the country. Now, in a sinister twist, comes the emergence of "honour suicides". The growing phenomenon has been linked to reforms to Turkey's penal code in 2005. That introduced mandatory life sentences for honour killers, whereas in the past, killers could receive a reduced sentence claiming provocation. Soon after the law was passed, the numbers of female suicides started to rocket.

Geert's been busy...

while Dinah's been slacking.  Geert Wilders PPV party now up to 32 seats in the Netherlands 150 member Parliament. 

I think Geert's going to rise higher in the polls because he keeps saying things like this.

"Might as well wrap up the Antilles with a bow and hand it to Chavez..."

Faction leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom PVV Geert Wilders has advised Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende to gift-wrap and sell off the Netherlands Antilles to Venezuela.

“Just dial this number. Write along. You have a pen? 00-58-212-806-3111. Again: 00-58-212-806-3111. You got it? That is the number of the palace of President Chavez in Venezuela. He would love to have the Netherlands Antilles and we [would] love to get rid of [it]. I would make a good deal with him. Tie a nice bow around the islands and goodbye,” stated Wilders on Wednesday.

Wilders put this piece of advice for Balkenende on the Website of the opposition party after the PVV leader and the rest of his faction walked out of the session of the Second Chamber with the Prime Minister. PVV was angry that the coalition was not willing to consider alternatives from the opposition parties to the crisis package that government presented on Wednesday. Wilders subsequently put on the Website his statement that he would have read in Parliament.

About that walkout:  Atlas has the story and video.  Alas, it isn't in English and has no translation.  Looks like there were lots of sparks flying, though!

Here's Expatica's report on the walkout.

Leader of the right-wing Freedom Party Geert Wilders has grabbed the attention of the Dutch dailies again by storming out of Thursday's parliamentary debate in a huff and taking his entire party with him.

When a government spokesman said the room to make changes to the government's plan to tackle the economic crisis was "extremely limited", Wilders declared: "I'm not only angry ... I'm furious. This is a sham debate ... and we're not going to stand for it."
...
Wilders' anti-establishment rhetoric has him riding high in the polls.

Dinah's slacking this weekend...

Helter Skelter.

because it's the official Dinah Lord birthday weekend. 

The L & M's official birthday weekend was last weekend so I was handed the birthday baton on  Friday.

  What is "the birthday baton" you ask? 

Well, we've got good friends with birthdays all through March so the parties start the first week and extend into the first week of April.  The birthday baton gets passed between us like a relay race and the next happy celebrant gets to do what they want when they want.  

And this morning the birthday girl wants pancakes.

Yesterday it was MaiTais  at lunch.

It's good to be birthday girl.

What can I say?

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui: Crazy as a loon or crazy like a fox?

Dr. Siddiqui and some of her homeboys.   --->

Just plain crazed if you ask me. 

I'm sure you remember the Gray Lady of al Qaeda, Dr. Siddiqui - she's the MIT trained neuroscientist, and 'global fugitive', who hooked up with al Qaeda and went off on jihad.  When captured last year in Afghanistan (Casing a police station she wanted to bomb) she grabbed the gun of a US soldier guarding her and shot him.   Dr. Siddiqui is now cooling her heels in federal custody awaiting trial and acting like she' phuking goofy just like it said in the al Qaeda handbook. 

She's no dummy.

Outraged Pakistani moonbats started making torture allegations shortly after her arrest and at her next to last court appearance she appeared with a blanket over her head.  (She was too 'ill' to make her last court date and has been undergoing a psychiatric consultation ever since.)

 Of course, her case has now become a cause celebre in Pakistan and US moonbat lawyers have lined up to represent her. 

Only the best for al Qaeda suspects, don't you know. 

Here's the latest from Fox News:

Federal prosecutors say a U.S.-trained scientist from Pakistan suspected of being an Al Qaeda operative is faking mental illness to avoid a trial.

Aafia Siddiqui was a global fugitive for five years until she turned up at a police station in Afghanistan over the summer and was wounded in a struggle with U.S. soldiers.

Her mental health has been in question since her arrest.

Psychologists initially concluded she was unfit for trial. But a federal prosecutor told a judge in New York on Thursday that two other psychiatrists say she is manipulating the court by pretending to be ill, The New York Times reported Friday.

A hearing is planned for June 1.

Siddiqui studied at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University before returning to Pakistan in 2003.

Anjem Choudary to face charges?

That's the rumor over at the Sun and IMO a 6 month stint in the slammer (don't drop the soap, Andy) sounds like just what the doctor ordered for this welfare lovin' Muslim hater.

HATE preacher Anjem Choudary is being probed by cops after demanding gays are stoned to death. Met officers are discussing with lawyers whether there are grounds to charge him.

And senior police sources say they are certain they will get the go-ahead to prosecute.

It comes after The Sun this week demanded hatemonger Choudary, 41, face the law.

Cops have received a string of complaints over his vile remarks.  A Met spokesman said they were being “assessed”. A police source said: “We are taking legal advice on whether there is anything he can be prosecuted for, but we anticipate a full inquiry.”

Dad-of-three Choudary — former right-hand man of exiled fanatic Omar Bakri Mohammed — called for Sharia law in Britain. He told a press conference in Chingford, East London, that adulterers and gays would be stoned to death under the regime.  And the firebrand said Business Secretary Lord Mandelson would be among those executed.

Dole-claiming Choudary, who also organised the sick Luton protests against soldiers returning from Iraq, could be prosecuted under the 1986 Public Order Act.

It outlaws behaviour intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress — and is punishable with up to six months’ jail and a £5,000 fine.

Obama gets list of top Muslim Americans - in a bid to get more Muslims in the administration

From the Denver Post.

In a bid to get more Muslim Americans working in the Obama administration, a book with resumes of 45 of the nation's most qualified — Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and public servants, all carefully vetted — has been submitted to the White House.

The effort, driven by community leaders and others, including U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., was bumped up two weeks because White House officials heard about the venture, said J. Saleh Williams, program coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, who sifted through more than 300 names.

"It was mostly under the radar," Williams said. "We thought it would put (the president) in a precarious position. We didn't know how closely he wanted to appear to be working with the Muslim American community."