Y’know, I don’t get why the Neos are so obsessed with Iran when Saudi Arabia is worse in just about every way, and actually, y’know supports the terrorists WHO ACTUALLY ATTACKED US!!! It almost makes me think that they don’t actually care about anyones freedom.

Sorry, that’s unhinged moonbat talk. Better put on my tin foil hat, I’m so crazy.

I heard a fascinating documentary on BBC radio last night on Suadi and its state religion Wahabism (think Calvinism without the giggles).

The basic thrust of it was that Suadi has played the most important role in radicalising the Muslim religion thtough its funding of charities. Apparenly 90% for all money recieved by Muslim charities comes from Saudi.

How this disgusting regime is considered an ally of the west is beyond me (only jokin, they has teh oilz).

This brings back memories of when we chased Saddam out of Kuwait. If it had just been a matter of pushing some crackpot out of a another country, that would have been OK but Bush41 & Co had to paint the war as a victory for Liberty Loving People like the Kuwaitis over Evil Despot Icky people like the Iraqis.

They all became conveniently deaf when people tried to point out Kuwait’s dismal human rights record before the invasion and the government’s habit of summarily executing people as Iraqi spies after the war.

And does anyone remember the concern the Republicans expressed over the plight of women in Afghanistan before Sept 11th?

Exactly.

The Saudis are our BBF’s because the Bushies and the bin-Ladens’ parents played bridge together.

I always love it when wingnuts, in an attempt to 1) try to paint US feminists as hypocritical, or something; and 2) drum up support for their odious war, bleat about how “in the Middle East they’re all meeeeaan to the wommmennnn! How come we never hear about THHAATTT from teh FEMMINNNNISSSTTSS, huh? huh?”, like all of a sudden the true and righteous desire for gender equity EVERYWHERE in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD has sprung fully formed from their black dark little wingnut hearts. Uh-huh. As if NOW and other feminist organizations haven’t been POINTING THESE ATROCITIES OUT for, oh, at least since the 70s. But hey, whatever.

Of course women are treated abominably in the Middle East, and if it hadn’t been for Western feminists these very jagoffs would be in favor of treating US women just the same. It was only a bit more than a century ago that women in this country were considered their husband’s (or father’s, or brother’s) property.

“… we were shocked that they also changed the victim’s sentence to be six months in prison and 200 lashes.”

I don’t know how the Saudis do this sort of thing, but in the Royal Navy a couple hundred years ago I believe that three hundred lashes was pretty much considered to be a death sentence.

So it sounds as if they’re flogging her nearly to death because she was gang-raped. This is some very sick shit.

bpower wrote:

The basic thrust of it was that Suadi has played the most important role in radicalising the Muslim religion thtough its funding of charities.

During the Cold War the U.S. supported the Saudis’ efforts in spreading Muslim fundamentalism, which was seen as reliably anti-communist.

So, what portion of this kind of behavior is cultural vs. what portion is religious?

For example, when the wingnuts feel like picking on Islam’s treatment of women, they often point to the practice of female genital mutilation, without recognizing the fact that the places where it’s practiced see it carried out on girls regardless of her family’s religious practices.

“During the Cold War the U.S. supported the Saudis’ efforts in spreading Muslim fundamentalism, which was seen as reliably anti-communist.”

Blow-back, the gift that keeps on giving!

One thing that I found particularly upsetting about this case is that when the review of the case was announced, the victim actually expressed her relief and said that “The thought of the lashing has been haunting me ever since” the original verdict.

Perhaps Al-Lahem was always the main target of this; he’s been defending human rights in Saudi for several years. I’ve got a bit of background here.

“During the Cold War the U.S. supported the Saudis’ efforts in spreading Muslim fundamentalism, which was seen as reliably anti-communist.”

It was their reliable anti-communism that won the Saudis that JD Powers award. Well, that and some catchy buzz words like “synergy” and “amplifying the fundamentalist experience” and “excellence”.

The US sure can pick some winners, though, can’t we? I blame Reagan.

The saudis have been paying immense bribes to the sunni fundis like al Quaeda for decades in order to insure (and that’s all it is to them – insurance) that they attack OTHER countries. So even though the sunni fundis see the house of Saud as evil, they have mostly abided by the quid pro quo.

In the meantime, it was US ally #1 Israel that illegally introduced nuclear weapons in the mid east, starting the arms race that led to the whole Iraq WMD thing. It’s generally accepted that, like japan, the saudis have all the components to nuclear weapons, but as they have not assembled them, they are not a “nuclear nation”.

Somehow, the US thinks the rest of the world cannot see this barbarous hypocrisy. That if we simply spew enough “freedom, democracy and liberty” rhetoric people will believe it, and not their lying eyes. It is a clear, bright red, white and blue line from Chile to Pakistan, and all the murdering thugs we’ve befriended in between.

And when the history of the twentieth century is written by dispassionate observers, the US is not going to be viewed in a kindly light…

mikey

This is exactly the sort of “justice” we might expect in Saudi Arabia or Texas or other backwards, Right-wing havens.

Somehow, the US thinks the rest of the world cannot see this barbarous hypocrisy.

Mikey, what the rest of the world thinks doesn’t matter to the tycoon class. They just need to 1) manipulate the so-called thinking of Rush Limbaugh’s audience, and 2) make sure they own the media.

Snorghagen said,

I don’t know how the Saudis do this sort of thing, but in the Royal Navy a couple hundred years ago I believe that three hundred lashes was pretty much considered to be a death sentence.

Apparently they don’t do it all at once. From the N.Y. Times:

Lashing is a common sentence under the Saudi penal code, applied for crimes ranging from homosexuality and drinking alcohol to theft and adultery. Usually, lashes are meted out in increments because offenders could not survive hundreds of lashes at once. The administrator of the punishment is supposed to hold a Koran under his arm so he cannot swing the whip too fiercely; lashes are not supposed to leave permanent scars. The sentence is frequently delivered in public, often at the entrance to a jail.

As Jon Stewart said when it was announced we were giving the Saudis $15 billion in military aid, “Well that’s good, because 20 percent of the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 weren’t from there.”

No, I don’t think invading Saudi Arabia makes sense, but it’s always made more sense than invading, say, Iraq. It would just be an extraordinarily bad idea, as opposed to a catastrophically bad idea.

how did that video clip go:
ma-ma-ma-ma-maaaaaaaaah Sharia!!!

No? Not THESE islamofascists? Ooops, sorry, my bad….

Hm, the original sentence made sense: a nasty crime was committed, and without the girl it would not be possible. At least, I presume, from Wahabbi Sharia point of view.

However, the additional lashes were for attempts to influence the court through publicity. Did the Prophet said anything specific about publicity? Puzzling.

Jeff Fecke–exactly what I was thinking. That was back when I was snarking that perhaps the sales Bush also approved to Saudi were hopefully to get the $$$ for the proposed pay raise for the soldiers that he denied. You know, pay for cost of living increases work for the Bushies when talking to those working class folks who vote red out of fear that someone might abort or that “those gays recruit!”, but never for members of the military deployed for an extra 2 years in a slaughter zone. Dammit, I’m going to get really pissed during this election year if this is any indication….LOL.

Wahhabism makes the Calvinists look like freakin’ Unitarians. Those “Christian” (Pharisees) separatists in Jesus Camp are more their speed. Point taken about the wingers though, too many of them use these stories as a “told ya so” mention while also backing fundies here who literally believe that God created women to be subordinate to men. The “literal word of the Qu’ran, back to the 7th century” folks are really out there, and they’re really bad. Why on Earth most people online who harp on this, though, are big fans of Bush is a great conundrum of our times.

Holding a Koran undr one’s arm while swinging a whip would leave the scripture…not so fresh. I see a commercial opportunity here: a Koran-protecting anti-perspirant…

What a disgusting culture, government and religion. The Saudis have hit the trifecta. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that this would be the result of almost unbelievable wealth that they didn’t need to do a lick of work to earn.

The judges more than doubled the punishment for the victim because of “her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media,” according to a source quoted by Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper.

That’ll teach those uppity bitches to complain and make us look bad.

Hunh. I never woulda guessed it. But I was wrong.

I REALLY thought I was through. I was sure I never wanted to shoot holes in anybody ever again.

And here it is.

There’s a whole bunch of people in this story I’d have no problem shooting multiple times with very high power rifles.

Maybe there’s a little life in the old boy yet…

Now, before anybody freaks out, I have no interest or intention of shooting anyone. I’m retired.

But if you start trying to decide who you want to wage war against, and what constitutes genuine provocation? These fuckers oughta think about sleeping in a different house every night. Is all I’m saying….

mikey

and they are not allowed to vote.

Did anyone else find it odd that in their long list of basic rights that Saudi women are denied, they chose to list this one last?

Well, thank God for the conservative blogosphere, who will no doubt bring this horrible, disgusting atrocity to light and demand it be placed in the fore-front of our public discourse about the evils of Islam and the middle east.

Any minute now. You’ll see. I bet I could go check Malkin* out right now and see five threads about it.

Huh. S-CHIP. Okay, well, that’s just the top story, i bet the next one will…
CNN are hippies.
Julia Meyers.
Canada.
Hollywood.

Well, look, I bet she’s no doubt just busy penning out an epic screed on this. You’ll see!

*Wingnut picked at random. Play this game at home with the wingnut of your own choosing! Fun for the whole family!

And, at this point, the above thread concerning the ruminations of a risible movie reviewer has garnered three times the comments of this post concerning the unspeakable treatment of women in the Middle East.

Was I naive in expecting more from the commentariat at this blog?

Was I naive in expecting more from the commentariat at this blog?

I’m deeply concerned too. Would you like some pie?

mdhatter: Is that the best you have to offer? If so — what kind of pie?

Yes, MzNicky, you were wrong. Nobody who reads this blog has any concern for the rights of women. Good call.

Wow.

MzNicky.

There is goodness, and strength, and compassion and human empathy in most of the commentariat. It is neither fair, nor accurate, to measure the quality of the population by the comment count.

Indeed, it is a fools errand. For some seek to make humor, some seek to be noticed, some seek merely to participate. A dispassionate measurement of the interests and commitment of the denizens of Sadly No would leave one with the head – scratching belief that bears, pumas, party hats and sammiches are all we’re about.

And yet, we know there is humanity and compassion here. We know that, while we squabble and bicker, there are a few bedrock truths we can agree upon. We know that you are one of us, and your cares and concerns are ours.

It may seem like a pointless little community on the web, but it represents more than that. Does that lead to change? Of course not. Change requires active participation in the real – world community. But if you seek strength, courage or that kind of sustenance you cannot find in your friends and family, for they have other beliefs, or worse yet, none at all, you can find that here.

I certainly find answers to the question “knowing this, how the fuck do I go on?” here.

And so, I suspect, do others…

mikey

thanx mikey.

MzNicky, my feeling is that there’s generally more comment-provoking juice for S,N in a long post about an absurd, risible subject like Medved doing history than there is in a brief, bitter post about a horrific situation like this.

This may sound cruel, but I really look forward to the day when some burly FoxNews devotee finally tells Malkin something to the effect of, “Thanks, you’ve done your work, ya cute little Oriental babe” and then blows her off. I just wish I could see the look on her face, though.

On that note, anyone want to go to CPAC and video prank it? I’m game.

Djur: I’m sure you’re right. I adore the snark and sending-up of richly deserving targets, of which there are a multitude, totally including Medved. And the S,N! crew does some of the best disemboweling on teh InterTubes. No disrespect intended, and I’m new here. Virulent misogyny tends to unhinge me, so pay no mind.

Blowback indeed, kind of like the isralis setting up Hamas as a couterweight to the PLO, worked out real well……

Was I naive in expecting more from the commentariat at this log?

Like what Djur said…
I would personally be happy if I could say something quirky and amusing about this. Not so much that there is a culture in the world where half the population is treated by the other half as slightly lower in the scheme of things than beasts of burden, and that they justify this on religious grounds; I read enough anthropology to know that human beings, given the chance, act much worse than bonobos. The outrage is more in the fact that the culture — or rather the country — is granted respectability as a major player on the geopolitical stage.

But when we encounter a state where women are lashed for meeting men who are not their owners male relatives — the model for ‘A Handsmaid’s Tale’ — then I’m outside my area of snark, and all I can do is send more money to Amnesty International.

It’s easy to make fun of Michael Medved. He is profoundly stupid and yet largely unimportant. I haven’t read the whole above post yet, because it’s just too tiring to cope with his constant rah-rahing. But this one… it’s short, it has the gut-punching horror aspect, and it winds up with… what do you say? I mean, there is a point at which “man that is some kind of fucked up things-that-are-fucked-up there” just lacks impact. Medved allows hilarity. This… there is no funny here, and there’s nowhere to get funny. The humour that the writers and commenters do employ is less humour and more bitter-black awfulness.

So, yeah, I can understand why Medved got more comments than this. Because he’s largely just a great big whack of mockable stupid. This story, on the other hand, is abhorrent and leaves a tarnish on the soul for being of the same species as anyone who can make the decision to whip a gang rape victim ninety times for being a gang rape victim and one hundred and ten more for going to the media. Difficult to say much about that.

Was I naive in expecting more from the commentariat at this blog?

I was out visiting someone whose husband just died of cancer.

This may sound cruel, but I really look forward to the day when some burly FoxNews devotee finally tells Malkin something to the effect of, “Thanks, you’ve done your work, ya cute little Oriental babe” and then blows her off. I just wish I could see the look on her face, though.

shit, when i first read that, i thought you had said; “… blowing her, I just wish you could see the look on her face.” On a certain level, that would be funnier.

This is as good an excuse as any to pour another glass of Famous Grouse and start ranting about the evils of religion.
Not religion per se… despite previous case law (q.v. Mikey vs. Great Sky Fairy), I can cope with it when people channel their spirituality into superstition. But religion seems to inevitably turn evil when it becomes a state religion; when it is allied with (or co-opted by) state power. I say that, despite having nothing but love and respect for (for instance) a couple of nuns who work in the local AIDS outreach services (hi Sister Paula!), and knowing that some of the S,N! commentariat identify as christian. But I suspect that the christianity is a channel for their general niceness, rather than the cause of it.

On its own, I doubt that islam would be particularly destructive. OK, it has some innately toxic ingredients, but left to themselves, the average dude brought up as a muslim is capable of ignoring those and getting along with getting on with other people. But once Wahabism used as the state ideology of a dictatorship… Oh dear. Bad combination.

Probably all World Religions have this potential for misuse. Arguably, islam more than others, on account of the ‘go forth and convert the heathen’ element being there from the start rather than a later addition. And the younger a religion is, the less chance there has been for the faithful to learn to ignore those toxic ingredients. So a really recent form of stupidity religion, like Mormonism, would be really oppressive if it became a state’s established faith. No, wait, you’ve tried that. Forget I said anything.

Even christianity on its own seems to have some worthwhile ideals, but once it became a tool of Roman imperial power, things went downhill fast. Whenever people grumble about undemocratic, medieval theocracies, the word ‘Vatican’ comes to mind for some reason.
I realise that there are good people trying to create a feminist christianity by purifying christianity from its oppressive misogynist elements. This strikes me, on the whole, as about as constructive as trying to create a non-racist Ku Klus Klan.
This is all probably OT (not to mention unoriginal). So blame the Aberlour.

Did someone say sammiches?

Ahh, religion is always a tool for social control, whether it’s officially in the hands of the state, or the state, officially or otherwise, is a tool of the church, temple or whatever is actually in charge.

“Godhead is tyranny.”
—Richard Meltzer

Sobered up now. Fuck, did I write that?
I figure that anyone who knowingly reads a comment signed ‘Herr Doktor’ cannot then complain that it contains two servings of Pompous and extra-baggy pedantry pants.

Sobered up in less than two hrs.? I’d’ve just kept drinking, & then gone to sleep. There was nothing especially pompous or pedantic about it. It’s a free internet, do your own thing.

Ah, but the post above was WRITTEN by a woman! The commenters were simply showing solidarity with the lone female on the (part-time; no insurance or sick leave) staff around here – they wanted her to know that she isn’t merely a token to appease the multitudinous feminist critics of our humble demesne.

I hate to say it (and I’m not just saying that – I actually DO hate to say this), but this kinda thing sorta exemplifies why I don’t have much to do with feminism anymore. When it comes to taking care of and giving a helping hand to the downtrodden, my socialism helps me figure out how to do that just fine. Feminism becomes just an excrescence on top of that; a reason to argue over whether “women’s issues” are put first or fourth on the docket. And I get so, so tired of arguing with people who are supposed to be interested in the same things I am that I just don’t even want to go there anymore.

…oh, and religion sucks.

Any good that has ever come from religion would have come about without the religion, whilst any evil that has come from religion never would have come about without the religion. It has no redeeming factors whatsoever, and the sooner everybody sheds their favorite Bronze Age sheephearding superstition, the better off we’ll all be.

Sheesh, I think I need my coffee.

JIllian–I beg to differ on that last point. The one about religion, not the coffee. I have found great comfort in Christianity since I converted (2005). I’ve also been attacked by other Christians who say that rather liberal Catholics like me aren’t real “Christians” and I’ve also wondered where the other folks are who believe because they really just love what Jesus had to say.

But then, that is Faith, not organized religion. Besides, I’ll always be the dissenter, even among the R Catholics. I must admit, I do find comfort in the more ritualistic Eastern Christianity as well as a connection to my Orthodox ancestors. When it comes to those shackled by the rules though, I just have to laugh at the irony that they profess to be followers of Jesus, who had a whole lot to say about those shackled by the rules. And nothing hierarchical to say about women, homosexuality, etc.

Lobbey–yeah, that would be rather a bit funnier. I’ll have to do that at CPAC or something. That woman ignores my attacks to the point of humor online. No chance to see the look on her face online, not without her teleprompter and script.

MzNicky, I assume this topic left others as shocked and speechless as it did me.

(q.v. Mikey vs. Great Sky Fairy),

We’re still in discovery. Just wait’ll I get that nasty fucker on the stand!

mikey: So, explain Tuberculosis to me, asshat.

GSF: Well, I was younger then, and kids have a harsh sense of humor…

mikey: Ok. Let’s move on. You are omniscient, according to the big book of crazy- er, the bible. But you couldn’t figure out how to do Plate Tectonics without earthquakes? What sort of hack supreme being are you, fer crissakes? Hell, even humans came up with WD40.

GSF: Um, yeah, that whole continental drift thing didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped…

mikey

Caveat–I didn’t mean to sound condescending to other Christians, just to express how different my view of the religion I took is. But then I am part Azagthoth…heeheehee.

And it is so galling, in this context, to hear the Bloviator In Chief intone support for the continuing embargo on Cuba—which makes no political or economic sense—-on the grounds that “they don’t have free elections, they don’t have a free press” when guys like this get a backslapping welcome at the ranch and a plate of (kosher) BBQ.

Barf.

Halal BBQ, not kosher (fundamentally he can’t take it).

jgmurphey:

But Cuba’s full of COMMUNISTS who will NATIONALIZE INDUSTRY.

And that’s why there’s an embargo. Because day or night, rain or shine, Democrat or Republican, the corporations won’t stand for any country on THEIR turf that wants to make their money available to the PROLES.

Plus, they’re still pissed about when Castro kicked them in the balls along with the mob bosses, and tossed them out with the rest of the plutocrat Cuban bitches.

mikey: Ok. Let’s move on. You are omniscient, according to the big book of crazy- er, the bible. But you couldn’t figure out how to do Plate Tectonics without earthquakes? What sort of hack supreme being are you, fer crissakes? Hell, even humans came up with WD40.

This is why I love mikey. He can get funny out of a post that makes me cry, and not just funny, but intelligent funny.

MzNicky, I read this post last night, and couldn’t think of a damn thing to say about it. What can one say? It’s a shining example of the Bushites massive hypocrisy, and a neon arrow pointing out the masses’ massive ignorance. It’s merely further evidence of the extreme suckiness that pervades the world.

Diverging a tad, there’s a fascinating article by George Monbiot, called God of the Soil. His theory is that the Abrahamic religions are the result of nomadic cultures nicking the farmers’ lands and settling down, based on some clever-trousers at the University of Oregon, who associates Greek deities with the soil on which the temples were built. Different soils, different gods, and because nomads had to move around, they needed portable gods. They also changed the pagan concept of natural cycles to one of progress toward some end goal. Which could be responsible for our buggering up our environment and culture in so many ways.

Also worth checking out, although this relates only to Christian religions, is Monbiot’s article Better Off Without Him. Here’s a couple of quotes:

“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion…”

But surely the US is different…?

Paul’s graphs show far higher rates of death among the under-5s in Portugal, the US and Ireland and put the US – the most religious country in his survey – in a league of its own for gonorrhea and syphilis.

Sadly, no!

mikey,
could you, please, ask the GSF to explain itself on flatulence?
Also,
Global Warming: is it human or is is that an upcoming Armagadon, staged by the GSF to punish us for allwoing gheys to marry? The science is really ambigious on that one…

Flatulence is nature’s way of reminding us that we are machines made of meat, and our primary function in the ecology is provide warmth and food for the symbiotic bacteria in our guts. Flatulence is the equivalent of the slave behind Caesar, reminding him that “You, too are mortal” — but cheaper.

Oh Patkin, please don’t condone (that bastard) Castro. He did far more damage than what some romanticists give him ‘credit’ for. Batista had to go, but not for what has been wrought. At least the insults to the ideals of Guevara poke him in his grave every time some capitalist makes a sale off of his image.

Embargo a disaster, admittedly. But at least the communities of Cubans in both Florida and Cuba were rather back and forth prior to this cac. Now the closest I can get is Tampa’s Jose Marti Park in Ybor City. Here, I changed my URL to my YouTube for my trespassing video. I have no idea how you guys link in here.

Eh, I made a mock Atlas Beach Bikini Vlog too. Haven’t posted that yet. My Mom’s a terrible photographer, as am I.

Quetesh, tigrismus, et al: Once again, I apologize for my snotty comment. Tee many martoonis? Well, yes, but also, that wrench in the gut when this kind of story surfaces and astonished rage supercedes the usual weary, sickly resignation.

Thanx for not tearing me a new one. You guys are — well — compassionate and thoughtful and stuff.

Mighta been something having to do with that whole “punish the victim” concept.

Man, if there was anything that ever qualified for the descriptor “fucked up”, that would pretty much be it….

mikey

More about “punish the victim who embarrasses the whole system by refusing to accept victimhood”.
Give Saudi Arabia another decade or two, and they won’t need to use their legal system to enforce that policy… they’ll have developed a blogosphere full of Citizen Journalists to carry it out instead.

The 19-year-old victim was sentenced last year to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male, a former friend from whom she was retrieving photographs. The seven rapists, who abducted the pair and raped both, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.

They raped both of them?? Is that right?

Geez.

And you want to try to do some kind of psychoanalysis and math trying to figure out why people want to blow the fucking piece of shit to kingdom come?

Fuck, man, I’d have NO problem sqeezing the trigger on these assholes..

mikey

But, but,but, the preznit KISSES that guy every time they meet, so him and his country have to extra goodly, right?

OK, so why don’t we all get together and write our Congressdinguses and make some noise? Seriously — I know it won’t be more than a fart in a hurricane, but there has to be some way of expressing our disgust with U.S. pandering, kowtowing, sucking up and otherwise turning a blind eye to the House of Saud and it’s complete fucked-up-ness.

Or an alternative: at every open town hall meeting and campaign stop of every candidate — at least the Democrats — somebody should stand up, recount this story, and demand to know how the candidate intends to address the longstanding evil that is our national relationship with Saudi Arabia.

If someone will write the script, with all the key points succinctly strung together for questioning, I will volunteer to try to question some of the candidates as they pass through Chicagoland. I think if the questions get asked enough times, someone’s gotta notice.

Maybe I missed it, but has there been a welcoming ceremony to congratulate the erstwhile Pim’s Ghost on joining the S,N! commentariat? Also for coping with other Sadly,Nostrils who receive a visit from the Whisky Fairy and talk trash about religion.
“We accept him! We accept him! One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!”

You guys know that nothing will ever cause us to willingly change our relationship with Saudi Arabia, right? And you know why?

Saudi Arabia has an agreement with us to do all their oil transactions in U.S. dollars.

If we piss off Saudi Arabia, they change their currency of value to Euros, and we see inflation that could conceivably approach interwar Germany levels as other nations start dumping their dollars as quick as they can.

Anything short of Saudi Arabia holding a mass, televised execution of all nonvirgnial, nonmarried women between the ages of twelve and sixty will garner nary a peep from us, because Saudi Arabia completely pwns us. Hell, even the mass execution would only manage to get a peep.

This is what comes of all of our militaristic posturing toward Iran, and this is what will end up leading us to war with them. Luckily for us, the Saudis still have our back. If they turn on us, we are fucked hard and sideways.

Jeez Jillian,

You’d think the powers that be in the US care more about oil and the economy that the rights of people overseas. If that’s so true, how come we’re so busy trying to export democracy to Iraq and supporting that paragon of democracy, General Musharraf, I mean, President Musharraf? Huh?

And how about Canada, huh? We haven’t invaded them yet! I said, how about Canada??? Answer me!!

Yeah, I’m short and funny looking and used to being mocked online. Have at it.

Just in case there was any doubt, the earlier Welcome suggestion was sincere, though voiced with the usual snark. Coz I am even shorter and funnier-looking. With glasses and long hair.

Jillian, I respectfully disagree. This Administration has always maintained a consistent and morally defensible position on nonvirginal, nonmarried women, which is shared by our alies from the House of Saud. If you are looking to fan out some imaginary disagreements amongst the Coalition of the Creeping, you should look elsewhere…

Yes, welcome, Lex, and let us know when you have the Pamela v-log satire up.

That’s OK Herr, I’m annoying enough to have considered annoying people as a profession. As for my hair, I opt for the “Marie Antoinette on crack” look (head still attached). But really, you’re that cute? Hmm…

As for the beach vlog, I shot it before things got as bad as they are now, and my Mom couldn’t tell the difference between “pause” and “record”. It is more of a satire of how many views that video got and an attempt to get JAWS photoshopped coming for me too, but I couldn’t refrain from bashing Bush in my valley girl voice.

I’m not short.

Um. Yeah. Tall.

I’m tall and, er, Robust

But I also sport the long (grey) hair that seems to be de rigeur on this board.

mikey

Maybe I missed it, but has there been a welcoming ceremony to congratulate the erstwhile Pim’s Ghost on joining the S,N! commentariat?

I bought a cake but Wal-Mart fucked it up.

Awww, thanks! Now if I only knew how to link here, I could be as lewd as I want to be!

But seriously, thanks. I appreciate it so much that I am seriously going to borrow a cheerleading outfit and make a mockery of Malkin just for you! I will do my best epileptic chicken impression while looking cutely Asian and scantily clad as I can. I just hope she will send me a mean email! I haven’t gotten one yet from her, and I want it so much. It will make my life just that much more like the Sarah Silverman Program!

Mikey, I was trying to sport long grey hair too, but got bored and dyed the greys purple again…..shucks….I love long, grey hair…or white. See, this is where I wish I could link.

Just cut and paste for linking. No tags necessary or nuthin’. Long links will run off to the side of the page and look ugly, but they’ll work too.

Let’s try a long one.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&rls=GGLG%2CGGLG%3A2005-26%2CGGLG%3Aen&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26rls%3DGGLG%252CGGLG%253A2005-26%252CGGLG%253Aen%26q%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fsearch%253Fhl%253Den%2526lr%253D%2526c2coff%253D1%2526rls%253DGGLG%25252CGGLG%25253A2005-26%25252CGGLG%25253Aen%2526q%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.google.com%25252Fsearch%25253Fsourceid%25253Dnavclient%252526ie%25253DUTF-8%252526rls%25253DGGLG%25252CGGLG%25253A2005-26%25252CGGLG%25253Aen%252526q%25253Dhttp%2525253A%2525252F%2525252Fwww%2525252Egoogle%2525252Ecom%2525252Fsearch%2525253Fsourceid%2525253Dnavclient%25252526ie%2525253DUTF%2525252D8%25252526rls%2525253DGGLG%2525252CGGLG%2525253A2005%2525252D26%2525252CGGLG%2525253Aen%25252526q%2525253Dhttp%252525253A%252525252F%252525252Fuk2%252525252Emultimap%252525252Ecom%252525252Fmap%252525252Fbrowse%252525252Ecgi%252525253Fclient%252525253Dpublic%2525252526GridE%252525253D%252525252D0%252525252E12640%2525252526GridN%252525253D51%252525252E50860%2525252526lon%252525253D%252525252D0%252525252E12640%2525252526lat%252525253D51%252525252E50860%2525252526search%252525255Fresult%252525253DLondon%25252525252CGreater%252525252520London%2525252526db%252525253Dfreegaz%2525252526cidr%252525255Fclient%252525253Dnone%2525252526lang%252525253D%2525252526place%252525253DLondon%252525252CGreater%252525252BLondon%2525252526pc%252525253D%2525252526advanced%252525253D%2525252526client%252525253Dpublic%2525252526addr2%252525253D%2525252526quicksearch%252525253DLondon%2525252526addr3%252525253D%2525252526scale%252525253D100000%2525252526addr1%252525253D%2526btnG%253DSearch%26btnG%3DSearch&btnG=Search

Long greyish hair? I thought I was the only one. And I keep it in a commie-hippie ponytail too. Although my 4-year-old daughter thinks it resembles a “My-Pretty-Pony” ponytail. (sigh)

Long greyish hair?
And bald spots in the middle are merely a sign of virility.

This is nothing to do with Islam. It’s pretty much the opposite of the Islamic teachings of Justice. It’s the result of a disgustingly corrupt(all for Western benefit of course) and oil rich country. You think these Judges go home and pray or count their money?

This is nothing to do with Islam.

Nonsense. It has at least something to do with Islam.