soc.culture.usa
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa
soc.culture.usa@googlegroups.com
Today's topics:
* International Stuff - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/5d1b6b36a66fef20
* BRITAIN WANTS NO PART IN JEW WAR ON IRAN! - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e5f7f943f12755ef
* Afghan Man Sentenced to Death for Converting - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/bd295e44b8e99935
* who will put the bell on the cat? - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/3d538d9c70b9eeaf
* SAMARA, THE UNTOLD PART - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/7f37278f24a4b447
* Jobs That Americans Won't Do ?? Think Again - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/5f87ba45eaeed9fb
* Lets Stop With the Auschwitz Lies. - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/399c1c7c48647bb2
* OH, WELL, WE WILL JUST PAY RUSSIANS TO DO IT! - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/4d1bd0feaa2f25e8
* US Selling Strategic Technology to China - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/de733042960e3a6d
* Notes on Jews and Homosexuality - 3 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6a1591a7669dfe2
* King David's Love For Jonathan - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/8b47e1a1af919602
* Homosexuality in The Hebrew Patriarchy Culture - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/3a3e2a77a85b1e49
* the ethology of blonde, brunette, and red-head - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/41c74845a22190da
* US War Machine Most Severely Addicted to Oil - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e66252423d4b79ec
* Seriously Abused Muslim Child-Bride Speaks Out . . - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/cbcfeb0a5c1d1ec9
* Gay Jews are thriving in New York City - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e37b06ddfaeb8960
==============================================================================
TOPIC: International Stuff
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/5d1b6b36a66fef20
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 6:47 pm
From: "marika"
Frank Kalder wrote:>
> http://www.orbitalreviews.com/movies/Dragonfly.html
>
> Great - I'll mentally add it to my list... (although a rather sad
> story).
> >
> > 'Al Dormir Cuando Suenan Venden Como Pan Caliente
> > No Se Me Duerman Con Aquella Gente
> > Si Quieren Comprar Vendale La Muerte
> > Y Contarle La Consencia Por Que No Le Encuentren'--oye mi canto, n,o.r.e
> >
>
> :( la mort (French) - la muerte (Spanish) ...
>
> >
>
this song is the PERFECT backdrop for the Dragonfly movie
mk5000
"Gonna see where I'm going, oh
Po, po, po, po, popozao, popozao
Po, po, po, po, popozao, popozao
Po, po, po, po, popozao, popozao"--kevin federline
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 6:53 pm
From: "marika"
Frank Kalder wrote:
>
> "Ich brenne immer noch wie die Sonne, mein Blut ist wie Feuer"
> [Yet, I still burn like the sun, my blood's like fire] - Tobias
> Regner, "I Still Burn"
ooo i'm scared
>
mk5000
http://dramaqueenstyle.com/
==============================================================================
TOPIC: BRITAIN WANTS NO PART IN JEW WAR ON IRAN!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e5f7f943f12755ef
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 9:50 pm
From: "serwad"
Britain breaks with the US over Iran
By Patrick Seale
DUBAI: Britain has told the United States that it will not take part in any
armed action against Iran's nuclear sites, according to diplomatic sources
in London. Already facing huge public criticism for his participation in the
Iraq war, Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking to distance himself from
America's belligerent rhetoric towards Iran.
Blair knows he would probably not survive the political storm if Britain
joined in an attack on Iran. The concern in Whitehall, however, is that the
Bush administration, egged on by Israel and its powerful friends in the
United States, risks developing an unstoppable momentum towards war a war in
which Britain clearly wants no part.
There is a real fear that if Iran refuses to yield to pressure either by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or by the UN Security Council to
which Iran was formally referred on March 8 then the US would be left with
no other option than to strike. The US may indeed have boxed itself into a
corner by its threats, which Iran has scornfully rejected.
The view in Whitehall is that if America attacks Iran, it will have to do so
alone or with Israel. In private discussions, British officials have made
clear that any sort of military campaign against Iran would be "madness".
Despite its close alliance with the US, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
has departed publicly from aggressive statements by senior US officials. He
has ruled out military action by Britain against Iran as "inconceivable".
Last week, Britain announced it was pulling 800 men out of Iraq one tenth of
its force there. This is seen as a signal that Britain is seeking to limit
its involvement in America's wars, rather than take on additional
commitments.
Carefully monitoring opinion in Washington, British officials have noted
with alarm that the advocates of confrontation with Iran, both inside and
outside the administration, have triumphed over the few brave souls who
dared argue in favour of dialogue and engagement.
Analysts in London are now convinced that Washington's real aim is "regime
change" in Tehran, an ambition which goes far beyond merely delaying or
halting Iran's nuclear programme.
The Washington Post reported this week that Iran had moved to the top of
America's national security agenda. Quite apart from the large teams devoted
to the Iran problem in the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies, 10 people
are now working full time on the Iran desk at the State Department, and an
American outpost of Tehran-watchers has been established in the Gulf.
Earlier this month US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared: "We may
face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran whose
policies are directed at developing a Middle East that would be 180 degrees
different from the Middle East that we would like to see develop." In a bid
to undermine the mullahs, she is planning to spend $85 million expanding
American radio and TV broadcasts to Iran and promote internal opposition.
In a widely reported speech on March 7 to the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, the main pro-Israeli lobby, Vice-President Dick Cheney declared:
"The United States is keeping all options on the table in addressing the
irresponsible conduct of the Iranian regime? We will not allow Iran to have
a nuclear weapon."
On the same day, General Moshe Ya'alon, a former Israeli chief of staff,
told a Washington audience that Israel could launch an attack on Iran in
several different ways, not just from the air. This was seen as a reference
to Israel's Dolphin class submarines, armed with American Harpoon nuclear
missiles, which are thought to be targeted at Iran.
As with the invasion of Iraq, the campaign against Iran seems to be driven
by neocons and other pro-Israeli activists. Richard Perle one of the most
eager advocates of the Iraq war has been beating the drums of war against
Iran, as has the pro-Israeli Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Even Ze'ev Schiff, a usually sober Israeli defence analyst, wrote last week
in Haaretz that intelligence services in the West were convinced that Iran
was covertly developing nuclear weapons. "There is a secondary, smaller
covert channel that is making steady progress towards creating a nuclear
weapon," he claimed.
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on March 10 that "in recent months, IDF
officers have visited Washington to offer their support for a military
strike should the diplomatic channels fail to bring Iran to heel".
American war fever against Iran seem largely to do with Israel. It includes
Iran's support for anti-Israeli militant groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas,
as well as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks about "wiping
Israel off the map", which most independent observers dismiss as an angry
response to Israel's brutal oppression of the Palestinians and not in any
sense a realistic threat.
President George W. Bush and his Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have
accused Iran of smuggling sophisticated road-side bombs and military
personnel into Iraq, but General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, admitted this week that the US had no proof of such activity.
In claiming that Iran is developing nuclear weapons the US seems in danger
of repeating the mistake it made in Iraq. The evidence against Iran is as
flimsy and as unproven as was the charge that Iraq's WMD posed an "imminent
threat" to America and the world.
There is no sign, however, that Washington is ready to heed the advice of
IAEA chief Mohammad Al Baradei, who urged the US to end the "war of words"
with Tehran and "engage in a dialogue".
Russia, too, is anxious to avert the danger of war not least to protect its
substantial interests in Iran.
Russia is supplying Iran with an advanced air defence system and has almost
finished building Iran's first nuclear power station at Bushehr on the
Arabian Gulf at a reported cost of $800 million. Moscow is keen to win more
nuclear power contracts in Iran where Energy Minister Parviz Fattah this
week announced plans to start building a second nuclear power station within
six months.
Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, described Iran's referral to the
Security Council as "too hasty".
"This move is detrimental," he said on Russian state TV. "Not one real
problem can be decided with such a move? We don't want to be the ones to
remind everyone who was right and who was not in Iraq, although the answer
is obvious."
A Russian compromise proposal to produce nuclear fuel for Iranian power
stations in Russia, while allowing Iran to enrich a small amount of uranium
on its own soil, was shot down by the US. "Enrichment and reprocessing on
Iranian soil is not acceptable," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said.
In confronting Iran, the US may not have fully weighed the possible
consequences: the extreme danger to US forces in Iraq; soaring oil prices;
and encouragement for the world-wide jihadi movement which is bound to
result in terror attacks against US and Israeli interests. It looks as if
the US has no coherent policy towards Iran only bluster.
Iran has an "inalienable right" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
to acquire atomic knowledge for peaceful purposes. It has the ability to hit
back hard against any aggressor. And, even were it to acquire nuclear
weapons a remote possibility several years in the future it could surely be
contained and deterred by the immensely greater nuclear arsenals of the US
and Israel.
The inescapable conclusion would seem to be that the US should start direct
talks with Iran as soon as possible. It may be the only way to defuse the
threat of war, to provide the US with an exit strategy from Iraq and to
build bridges to an inflamed Muslim public opinion.
(Patrick Seale is a commentator and author of several books on Middle East
affairs)
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2006-daily/18-03-2006/world/w3.htm
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Afghan Man Sentenced to Death for Converting
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/bd295e44b8e99935
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 6:51 pm
From: "ranjit_mathews@yahoo.com"
Seeker wrote:
> <ranjit_mathews@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> No, the thread is about the law itself, not the penalty.
The penalty is prominently mentioned in the title. So, stop
bullshitting that it's not about the penalty.
> > There hasn't been a law in Tamilnadu to deal with apostacy (a situation
> > of someone who leaves a religion or converts himself to another
> > religion).
>
> The Afghan didn't convert himself either. He was converted.
We don't know that. Be that as it may, in the Tamilnadu law, there is
no penalty for the convert. Under that law, proselytization too is
legal; only certain methods of proselytization are illegal. One of
those methods, conversion by force, is illegal everywhere else in the
free world. As for the other methods - allurement (such as handing out
$100 bills to tramps willing to be baptized into Mormonism), such
methods are not looked upon with favor even elsewhere in the free
world.
> > No court in the Republic of India has passed a sentence of killling a
> > Dalit and burning his village. In Afghanistan, it appears that a court
> > may pass a death sentence for apostacy.
>
> That is a minor detail. Whether a court imposes the pain of death on someone
> for conversion or a mob lynches someone for conversion, the end result is
> the same -- a person dead.
The discussion is about the law, so it is not a minor detail.
http://www.mirrorofjustice.com/mirrorofjustice/2006/03/executing_chris.html
Sir Charles James Napier got it right. Napier was the British
commander-in-chief in India, and he prohibited burning widows alive on
the funeral pyres of their husbands. When some Hindu leaders objected,
Napier is said to have replied, "You say that it is your custom to burn
widows. Very well. We too have a custom: when men burn a woman alive,
we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral
pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow
your custom. And then we will follow ours."
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 7:04 pm
From: "ranjit_mathews@yahoo.com"
Seeker wrote:
> > Proselytization is a person seeking to convert other people.
>
> Whether the law seeks to punish the "convertor" or the "convertee" the
> message is the same: don't convert.
Was Pope John Paul II's message "don't convert others" in his piece on
"Dignitatis Humanae":
http://www.mirrorofjustice.com/mirrorofjustice/2004/04/proselytization.html
Religious communities also have the right not to be hindered in their
public teaching and witness to their faith, whether by the spoken or by
the written word. However, in spreading religious faith and in
introducing religious practices everyone ought at all times to refrain
from any manner of action which might seem to carry a hint of coercion
or of a kind of persuasion that would be dishonorable or unworthy,
especially when dealing with poor or uneducated people. Such a manner
of action would have to be considered an abuse of one's right and a
violation of the right of others.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: who will put the bell on the cat?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/3d538d9c70b9eeaf
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 9:52 pm
From: "G. R. L. Cowan"
NobodyYouKnow wrote:
>
> "LongmuirG" <LongmuirG@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:1142896653.709926.146580@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > donquijote1954 quoted someone (Christian Science Monitor) saying:
> > > "The biggest hole in our [US] policy today is fuel taxation," he [Lee
> Schipper]
> > > adds. "Tax increases are something Americans should do but don't know
> how
> > > to do, and I wonder if they will ever be able to.
>
> The problem is that the U.S. does NOT pay the actual price of the fuel, due
> to tax SUBSIDIES, not taxes on the gas.
>
> http://www.progress.org/gasoline.htm
> "The true price of gasoline is as high as $15.14 a gallon, according to a
> new report released by the International Centre for Technology Assessment. "
>
> Actually, other, even mor authoritative reports ...
They could hardly be less so.
Seen any speeders on the highway lately?
--- Graham Cowan, former hydrogen fan
Boron: internal combustion, nuclear cachet http://tinyurl.com/4xt8g
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 8:16 pm
From: "SJC"
"Clifford" <noone@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:ALITf.6550$wD1.1538@trnddc02...
>
> "NobodyYouKnow" <TheVoiceOfReason@nowhere.com> wrote in message
> news:5lITf.4354$ji6.199574@news20.bellglobal.com...
>>
>> "LongmuirG" <LongmuirG@aol.com> wrote in message
>> news:1142896653.709926.146580@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>>> donquijote1954 quoted someone (Christian Science Monitor) saying:
>>> > "The biggest hole in our [US] policy today is fuel taxation," he [Lee
>> Schipper]
>>> > adds. "Tax increases are something Americans should do but don't know
>> how
>>> > to do, and I wonder if they will ever be able to.
>>
>> The problem is that the U.S. does NOT pay the actual price of the fuel,
>> due
>> to tax SUBSIDIES, not taxes on the gas.
>>
>> http://www.progress.org/gasoline.htm
>> "The true price of gasoline is as high as $15.14 a gallon, according to a
>> new report released by the International Centre for Technology Assessment.
>> "
>>
>> Actually, other, even mor authoritative reports puts it at about
>> $19/gallon,
>> so MOST of what you pump into your gas hog is taxes that someone ELSE paid
>> for.
>>
>> To remove enough subsidies to push the price to $6/gallon would be the
>> FIRST
>> step in the right direction.
>>
>>
>
> Yup. Great report! Now there is a social cost added to driving. All that
> "free parking" that we don't pay for. All those parking spaces in the cities
> that are unproductive. And, yes, the cost of guarding our national reserves.
> You liberals are just too funny! Just when I think you coudn't come up with
> something new, WHAMMO. You spit out this crap. At least your not dull.
You could add the $250B for 3 years in Iraq to the cost of oil.
>
> Oh, by the way, the author is a scientist and a stink... thinker!
>
>
> Clifford
>
>
==============================================================================
TOPIC: SAMARA, THE UNTOLD PART
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/7f37278f24a4b447
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 9:57 pm
From: "serwad"
2153 bytes) [nc]
In a very bad turn of events for US invaders, the occupation along with
Iraqi occupation police and army attempted to take the city of Samara
similtanously from three axis (North, South, and West).
What was unknown to the occupiers was that the resistance had countered with
a well devised trap where the US invaders were themselves surrounded from
three areas which was the towns of "Balad, Dhaluia, Thirthar." The
resistance used heavy wepons to attack the US inavders in the form of
"Al-Tariq" (range 33 km), "Karad" (range 24 km), "Katushia" (range 11.3 km
and 8.3km), "Mortor 120ml" (range 9.2 km and 7.2 km).
To counter the attack, the US forces called in its attack helicopters which
were easy prey for the resistance as the area the helicopters need to fly
over is heavy in trees and palm groves giving cover to the resistance. A
total of 7 helicopters were shot down beginning with a Black Hawk, then a
Cobra, then another Cobra, then a Chinook which was being used to land
troops west of Samara, then two Apache helicopters which were downed to the
north of Samara. The weopns used to take down the helicopters were the
"Strella, C5K, Dimotrov 14.5 ml".
The resistance also managed to destroy 4 Abram tanks, 7 Humer's, two
transports and kill over 82 Iraqi occupation soldiers and 65 US soldiers.
After this attack, the US called in its F14 and F16 attack planes which
bombed the city for a straight 8 hours using cluster bombs, napalm, and
laser guided weapons. Fearing for the life of the city's inhabitants, the
resistance withdrew from sections of Samara and moved to the surrounding
villages and towns where it attempted to draw the US forces towards it and
away from the city.
This tactic was sucessful at stopping the attacks. The current situation in
Samara has the resistance in control of 70% of the city with the Us and Iraq
occupation army holding the remaining 30%.
The number of civilians killed in the attacks is yet unknown due to many
homes falling on their inhabitants. What has been confirmed is 115 dead and
154 injured. The dead from the resistance has reached between 23-25, not
counting the wounded.
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end
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Jobs That Americans Won't Do ?? Think Again
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/5f87ba45eaeed9fb
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 6:34 pm
From: Antipodean Bucket Farmer
In article <PHWSf.1670$gD4.791@trnddc05>,
white.lightning2@verizon.net says...
>
> "Chloe" <justsayno@spam.com> wrote in message
> news:xVSSf.25422$g91.2663@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
> >DH and I owned both a Chevrolet Vega and a Ford
> > Granada. I realize you may not be old enough to know what that means, but
> > anyone who remembers those models will know exactly what I'm talking
> about.
>
> Sure do, I've owned about 7 Vegas, there's one in the garage now. The car
> was too far ahead of its time, the American driver wasn't ready for it yet.
> He still had the oil change once or twice a year mindset, and I'll check the
> oil level when the oil light comes on.. And then as today, you over heat an
> engine with an aluminum block or head, the head gasket blows, and the head
> warps. Back then though there was enough meat in the head to resurface it,
> today you toss it in the garbage and buy a new one I am even looking to
> add a second one to my stable if I can find a cosworth, the last cosworth I
> had was putting 230 hp at the wheels when I was finished with it, not bad
> for a 2.3 ltr engine built in 76 with a carb, wonder what I could do with
> modern fuel injection?.. Ecologists and tree huggers raved about Ford's
> choice to use recycled steel in the 70's, car buyers found it wasn't so good
> an idea, damn things rusted from the inside out, but again it was an idea
> ahead of its time.
Please don't say, "Chevrolet Vega." I'm still kicking myself
over that one.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" as pieces of the engine block fell off,
while driving down the freeway...
--
Want Freebies?
http://www.TheFreeStuffList.com/
Check The Free Stuff List
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Lets Stop With the Auschwitz Lies.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/399c1c7c48647bb2
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 7:08 pm
From: "John W"
I agree with Morton Davis, here. Poor people like NML have their head
up their arse. But then, mental retardation probably comes from
inbreeding, as well as the balls that did not drop.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: OH, WELL, WE WILL JUST PAY RUSSIANS TO DO IT!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/4d1bd0feaa2f25e8
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 10:22 pm
From: "serwad"
NASA Halts Kennedy Space Center Operations After Accidents
March 20, 2006 2:30 a.m. EST
Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer
Cape Canaveral, Florida (AHN) - NASA is halting shuttle launch preparation
at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) after a series of recent accidents.
KSC Director Jim Kennedy stopped work on NASA's three-orbiter shuttle fleet
and International Space Station (ISS) components after a small fire at the
Vehicle Assembly Building, among other problems.
Kennedy says, "We must stop, in their tracks, the chain of events that led
me to call for this safety stand-down."
Kennedy says that the small fire "could have been catastrophic," where two
fully fueled shuttle solid rocket boosters were stacked.
Kennedy calls the accidents "a threat to successfully accomplishing our
mission - the launching of astronauts and payloads into space."
"We understand that incidents may occur, but a major mishap could result in
losing the confidence of the American people."
According to Kennedy, the accidents "could derail NASA's plans to complete
the International Space Station and begin exploration of the moon, Mars and
beyond."
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 3:42 am
From: "choro-nik"
May I suggest exporting NASA jobs to Russia. They will do it cheaper, I am
sure!
--
choro-nik
*******
"serwad" <serwad@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:sgKTf.969$lM3.829@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
> NASA Halts Kennedy Space Center Operations After Accidents
>
> March 20, 2006 2:30 a.m. EST
>
>
> Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer
>
> Cape Canaveral, Florida (AHN) - NASA is halting shuttle launch preparation
> at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) after a series of recent accidents.
>
> KSC Director Jim Kennedy stopped work on NASA's three-orbiter shuttle
> fleet and International Space Station (ISS) components after a small fire
> at the Vehicle Assembly Building, among other problems.
>
> Kennedy says, "We must stop, in their tracks, the chain of events that led
> me to call for this safety stand-down."
>
> Kennedy says that the small fire "could have been catastrophic," where two
> fully fueled shuttle solid rocket boosters were stacked.
>
> Kennedy calls the accidents "a threat to successfully accomplishing our
> mission - the launching of astronauts and payloads into space."
>
> "We understand that incidents may occur, but a major mishap could result
> in losing the confidence of the American people."
>
> According to Kennedy, the accidents "could derail NASA's plans to complete
> the International Space Station and begin exploration of the moon, Mars
> and beyond."
>
>
==============================================================================
TOPIC: US Selling Strategic Technology to China
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/de733042960e3a6d
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 9:29 pm
From: merlin <@sgb.net>
US rail-related export to China questioned
By Jim Wolf
Reuters
Sunday, March 19, 2006; 5:28 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of a congressionally chartered panel
questioned on Friday a Bush administration decision to sell China a
high-tech system used to spot railroad-track glitches because of its
potential to help China's military.
"The big issue for me is, were the right questions asked," said Larry
Wortzel, chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review
Commission and an ex-U.S. Army attache in Beijing.
At issue is a so-called inertial reference system that gauges
irregularities in track geometry.
Wortzel, chairing a hearing on China's military modernization and
U.S. export controls, said Beijing's main means of moving ballistic
missiles and nuclear warheads was by rail.
"Every time the Chinese military has really surprised us with some
military movements or assemblies or nighttime deployments or
movements of missiles, it's been by rail," he added in a telephone
interview with Reuters.
"You just kind of slap your head and say, 'Did they even ask'?" he
said. The 12-member U.S.-China panel was created in 2000 to
investigate and submit to Congress an annual report on the national
security implications of bilateral trade and the economic
relationship.
China has the greatest potential to compete militarily with the
United States and field disruptive military technologies "that could
over time offset traditional U.S. military advantages absent U.S.
counter strategies," the Pentagon said in a congressionally mandated
report last month.
The Pentagon recommended the rail-curvature measuring system for
export to China along with only a handful of other items on a
so-called U.S. "munitions" list it cleared in the past two years, an
official told Wortzel's panel.
Beth McCormick, acting director of the Pentagon's Defense Technology
and Security Administration, said her office also had recommended
export licenses for a bomb-disposal containment vessel for Chinese
security training before the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics as well as
several commercial satellites.
The Pentagon made its recommendations to the Commerce Department,
which determines the final U.S. government position, said Maj. Paul
Swiergosz, a Pentagon spokesman.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Notes on Jews and Homosexuality
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6a1591a7669dfe2
==============================================================================
== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 3:38 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
Notes on Jews and Homosexuality
"It is not entirely clear from biblical material that there is a ban on homosexuality. It is true that later rabbis interpreted the bible this way. However, excellent material has been outlined in a book "Twice Blessed" which is a discussion of Judaism and gays, edited by Andy Rose and Christie Bulka. Andy is a gay social worker and active in the Jewish community. While orthodoxy remains rooted to older interpretations of this material, and remains largely homophobic, conservatism and reform are making advances in the acceptance of gays with an eye to the spirit of Judaism as the acceptance of all as human beings worthy in G-d's eyes." Yael Ben-Ari on Prodigy. Twice Blessed is ISBN #0-8070-7908-1 published by Beacon Press Boston Ma. Discusses also gay rabbis.
Other references: Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought, Vol 27 No 1, Winter issue 1978 (Sin, Crime, Sickness or Alternative lifestyle: A Jewish Approach to Homosexuality by Hershel Matt.)
Article by Bradley Artson, Judaism and Homosexuality was written for Tikkun Magazine, Vol. 3, #2 (3/88).
The Talmud And Jewish View
I have lots of problems with the Talmud. It prohibits many things as Christians we do every day. The Talmud credits the Gentiles with three observations of the commandments given the sons of Noah: they do not drawup a marriage deed? (kethubah) for males; they do not weigh the flesh of the dead in a market; and they respect the Torah (Hullin 92b). The first of the three is as puzzling as the last. Homosexual marriages were well known in the Roman world, and most Jews were familiar with such aspects of Roman life. Two explanations seem likely: (1) the Talmud assumes that the absence of legal documents for such relationships demonstrates inferior status (ignoring the generally looser structure of all Gentile marriages); or (2) kethubah refers not to the legalization of the marriage but to a particular aspect of it, probably the dowry agreement (see, e.g. Maimonides, The Guide of The Perplexed, trans. M. Friedlander (New York, n.d.), 3:49).
In regard to Lev, the Jewish commentaries of Maimonides and others agree that the passages in Lev 18-20 are not moral values but as symbols of Jewish distinctiveness. Also Mishnah's regarded homosexuality as punishable with all other idolatrous or ritually impure behavior; as well as later by Maimonides, who specifically and repeatedly equated homosexual acts with matters like the hybridization of cattle, which had long since become morally indifferent in the Christian tradition. (See The Code of Maimonides, bk.5, The Book of Holiness, 21.8)
In the Lev passages it is also unclear what is being prohibited. The Hebrew reads literally, "You should not sleep the sleep of a women with a man." Jewish moralists have debated for a millennium about exactly what constitutes "the sleep of a women" and who is technically a "man": see e.g. in the Talmud, Sandedrin 7.4.53A; and Maimonides' commentary in Code 5.1.14. Moreover, since the actions of the "kadeshim" were specifically labeled as "toevah" (e.g., in 1 (3) Kings 14:24), one might well infer that the condemnation in Leviticus were in fact aimed at curbing temple prostitution in particular rather than homosexual behavior in general. This was not the usual understanding of the later Jewish tradition, but it is suggested by the LXX, upon which Christian moralists drew.
As a Christian however, while respecting the Jewish right to their views, I am much more interested in the New Testament view which more clearly says nothing about today's homosexual relationships.
== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 7:41 pm
From: "NefeshBarYochai"
Here is the name JAFAR http://www.familywatchdog.us/ do a last name
search for JAFAR
== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 4:00 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
Yeah that me, you got me. I repent. Please keep it a secret. I love you.
SJ
==============================================================================
TOPIC: King David's Love For Jonathan
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/8b47e1a1af919602
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 3:40 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
King David's Love For Jonathan
Samuel 1:25-26 clearly states male-male love is greater than that of a women.
"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." King James
or, Revised English " Jonathan lies slain on your heights. I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you are most dear to me; your love for me was wonderful, passing the love of women." Is the same in all modern English versions.
The speaker is King David. David was Jonathan's brother-in-law While some may not like the fact that this is what the scripture says it does clearly state that the love between two men can be greater than between a man and a women. Many Christians are homophobic. They should try really loving homosexuals and they might find the fact homosexuals can deeply love each other not so difficult to grasp and accept.
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 7:55 pm
From: "NefeshBarYochai"
David and Jonathon were not homosexuals. I love my father, I love
Hashem. Both are masculine but I don't want or need to have sexual
intercourse with either in a sodomistic manner as is the way of the
homosexual. I know Hashem through his creation of woman, in fact one
woman in particular. The act of sodomy is what distinguishes the
homosexual among males and people with any common sense know the act of
sodomy is filthy and non-productive. Science has already proven a link
between AIDS and sodomy among males. Sodomy is a perversion. The
Talmud refers to sodomy in the sense that it brings about eclipses.
King David loved Jonathon as a brother not as a lover or sexual
partner. That you don't believe me ask him yourself.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Homosexuality in The Hebrew Patriarchy Culture
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/3a3e2a77a85b1e49
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 3:45 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
Homosexuality in The Hebrew Patriarchy Culture
Although there is no moral condemnation of homosexuality as such in the Bible, those who cite the Bible, especially the OT, to condemn homosexuality need to realize the OT was written in a very patriarchal society. Homosexuality, at least among males, poses a serious threat to patriarchy and could not be tolerated. This influence in a social context clearly left a mark on the writings of the authors of scripture.
At first it might seem that homosexuality among men should be well received. After all, the preeminent dignity of the male is a central doctrine of patriarchy, and what could be more affirming of that dignity than men loving men? However, this argument assumes that sexuality is closely associated with the sort of love that values the beloved and respects his/her dignity. Love in this sense is not an important component as sexuality in a patriarchy. Rather, sexual intercourse is one of the means by which the active male subjugates, controls and makes use of the passive female. Sex between men, at least when it involves some sort of bodily penetration, is seen as requiring that one of the partners assume the passive, female role. It is therefore inimical to the masculine dignity of that partner. If it is accepted as a possibility, it threatens the dignity of all men. This was a threat well understood by the Hebrews, who had spent a significant portion of their early history under Egyptian domination. Egyptian soldiers routinely sodomized their defeated enemies as a means of affirming the enemies' absolute subjugation. This indignity was no doubt suffered by many a Hebrew male during the Egyptian captivity, and its bitter memory probably influenced the approach to homosexuality in the holiness laws. Even today, it is not uncommon for men to assert their domination of other men by forcing the others to assume the "female" role. This is an important means of defining and enforcing the pecking order in male prison populations. In urban gangs dominant males often address subordinate males in derogatory terms that are feminine in gender.
It is also interesting to note the absence in the OT of any hint that lesbianism is frowned upon. So long as marriage is obligatory for women and their sexuality is tightly controlled, lesbian dalliances pose no threat to the patriarchal order. It in only when women achieve some degree of control over their sexuality and committed lesbian relationships begin to be seen as an alternative to marriage that they become a threat.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: the ethology of blonde, brunette, and red-head
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/41c74845a22190da
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 3:45 am
From: "Phineas T. Bluster"
On 2006-03-20, Comm <no@spam.com> wrote:
>
> "Xah Lee" <xah@xahlee.org> wrote in message
> news:1141042435.416546.173660@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> can the word brunette ever be used on a black-haired girl?
>
> Black haired people: raven haired.
Ebon-tressed? Where the hell have I seen that?
> Very very blonde: tow haired.
How's bout:
Dish-water blonde
platinum
champagne
strawberry
ad yukeum...
harrumph...
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 8:17 pm
From: Iskandar Baharuddin
On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 03:45:36 -0000, "Phineas T. Bluster"
<Ol_Grumpy@pissininthewind.org> wrote:
>On 2006-03-20, Comm <no@spam.com> wrote:
>>
>> "Xah Lee" <xah@xahlee.org> wrote in message
>> news:1141042435.416546.173660@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>> can the word brunette ever be used on a black-haired girl?
>>
>> Black haired people: raven haired.
>Ebon-tressed? Where the hell have I seen that?
>
>> Very very blonde: tow haired.
>How's bout:
>Dish-water blonde
>platinum
>champagne
>strawberry
>ad yukeum...
>
>harrumph...
Suicide Blonde (dyed by her own hand)
--
Shalom & Salam
Izzy
"An armed society is a polite society."
- Robert Heinlein
==============================================================================
TOPIC: US War Machine Most Severely Addicted to Oil
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e66252423d4b79ec
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 3:46 am
From: "choro-nik"
May I suggest a simple solution to this waste of $6.7 bbillion on condition
that I can have just 1% of savings thus achieved?
Ground them all.
--
choro-nik
*******
<NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org> wrote in message
news:1142895019.1959538157.4554002555@blythe.org...
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> US War Machine Most Severely Addicted to Oil
>
> Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
>
> Reuters via CNN - Mar 20, 2006
> http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/20/pentagon.efficiency.reut/index.html?section=cnn_topstories
>
> Pentagon battles high fuel costs
>
> Gas-guzzling vehicles, hulking aircraft challenge military ingenuity
>
> NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Tens of thousands of U.S. military vehicles, ships
> and
> aircraft are guzzling fuel every day around the world and with the bill
> rising the Pentagon is trying harder to conserve.
>
> The U.S. military consumed 144.8 million barrels of fuel in 2004, spending
> $6.7 billion, according to the Defense Energy Support Center.
>
> Last year, it consumed only 128.3 million barrels, but spent $8.8 billion,
> as the average price per barrel rose by almost 50 percent to more than
> $68.
>
> For 2006, the energy support center estimates the military will need 130.6
> million barrels and pay more than $10 billion for it, at a price of more
> than $77 per barrel.
>
> "The U.S. Army burned 12 times more fuel per soldier in Iraq than it did
> in
> France in 1944 nine gallons of fuel per soldier per day in 2004," said
> Carlton Meyer, a former Marine officer who runs G2mil Quarterly, a Web
> site
> on military issues. "Another problem is that truck fuel tankers are easy
> to
> identify and destroy by enemy guerrillas."
>
> As oil prices hit a record $70.85 per barrel last year and have hovered
> around $60 ever since, the Pentagon realized the only way to soften the
> blow
> would be to consume less.
>
> "Fuel and upkeep for aircraft... with 1950s era engines and design expose
> us
> to soaring fuel prices, increased maintenance and obsolete spare
> suppliers,"
> said Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force in testimony to
> the U.S. Senate Armed Services committee earlier this month.
>
> Fears of shortages after Hurricane Katrina gave the issue new urgency,
> prompting Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England to send a memo last
> September asking all military departments, defense agencies and employees
> to
> conserve fuel.
>
> Amid the measures England suggested were increased training on combat
> simulators instead of actual war machines and shutting down engines
> instead
> of idling.
>
> Two months later, the Pentagon also ordered all defense facilities to cut
> their energy consumption each year by 2 percent and to increase their use
> of
> renewable energy to 7.5 percent of total demand by 2013 and 25 percent by
> 2025.
>
> Even as the White House repeatedly said the jury was still out on whether
> industrial emissions caused global warming, the Pentagon ordered
> facilities
> to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.
> Gas-guzzling armor
>
> The biggest gas guzzlers are heavy armored vehicles, such as tanks and
> humvees, and aircraft, such as the massive B-52 bomber.
>
> They were designed decades ago, when gas prices were not an issue. But
> they
> have remained a vital part of combat missions.
>
> A case in point is the Abrams tank, designed in 1979 for rapid assaults
> across Europe against the Soviet Union.
>
> Its massive armor can survive vicious direct hits and its turbine engine
> can
> propel it from zero to 20 miles per hour in seven seconds.
>
> But it weighs 70 tons and consumes 56 gallons an hour at full clip and 10
> gallons an hour while idling.
>
> "If we could reduce the amount of fuel we need on the battlefield, that
> would cut down on the number of trucks that have to travel around carrying
> fuel and therefore reduce the number of soldiers exposed to harm's way,"
> said Lt. Col. Mike Flanagan, manager of the U.S. Army's program to improve
> the tank's engine.
>
> Replacing the turbine engine with a more fuel-efficient diesel engine was
> not feasible, so the Army decided to try to make the existing engine last
> twice as long and reduce fuel consumption on stationary missions.
>
> Some tanks already have a small generator attached on the back of the
> turret, while others will get six extra batteries that the crew can run
> instead of idling the engine.
>
> The Army shares all these improvements with the Marines, who use the
> Abrams
> tank and are also researching a hybrid electric engine for use in
> reconnaissance vehicles.
>
> Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is looking at future applications of fuel cell
> technologies, while the Air Force is studying putting more fuel efficient
> engines on the Vietnam-era B-52 airplane, which remains the Air Force's
> primary bomber.
>
> Copyright 2006 Reuters.
>
>
> *
> ================================================================
> NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
> Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
> 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org
> List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
> Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
> ================================================================
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
>
> iD8DBQFEHzGriz2i76ou9wQRAlGvAKCOWNrvcqfFfCd7JLP7/Cw0HBhyUACeKZSf
> 5HLKm0VVQOd1K4c5wFX4AgI=
> =hZSX
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 7:59 pm
From: "Timothy-Allen Albertson"
The irony. Oil Nazis addicted to oil.
NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> US War Machine Most Severely Addicted to Oil
>
> Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
>
> Reuters via CNN - Mar 20, 2006
> http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/20/pentagon.efficiency.reut/index.html?section=cnn_topstories
>
> Pentagon battles high fuel costs
>
> Gas-guzzling vehicles, hulking aircraft challenge military ingenuity
>
> NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Tens of thousands of U.S. military vehicles, ships and
> aircraft are guzzling fuel every day around the world and with the bill
> rising the Pentagon is trying harder to conserve.
>
> The U.S. military consumed 144.8 million barrels of fuel in 2004, spending
> $6.7 billion, according to the Defense Energy Support Center.
>
> Last year, it consumed only 128.3 million barrels, but spent $8.8 billion,
> as the average price per barrel rose by almost 50 percent to more than $68.
>
> For 2006, the energy support center estimates the military will need 130.6
> million barrels and pay more than $10 billion for it, at a price of more
> than $77 per barrel.
>
> "The U.S. Army burned 12 times more fuel per soldier in Iraq than it did in
> France in 1944 nine gallons of fuel per soldier per day in 2004," said
> Carlton Meyer, a former Marine officer who runs G2mil Quarterly, a Web site
> on military issues. "Another problem is that truck fuel tankers are easy to
> identify and destroy by enemy guerrillas."
>
> As oil prices hit a record $70.85 per barrel last year and have hovered
> around $60 ever since, the Pentagon realized the only way to soften the blow
> would be to consume less.
>
> "Fuel and upkeep for aircraft... with 1950s era engines and design expose us
> to soaring fuel prices, increased maintenance and obsolete spare suppliers,"
> said Gen. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force in testimony to
> the U.S. Senate Armed Services committee earlier this month.
>
> Fears of shortages after Hurricane Katrina gave the issue new urgency,
> prompting Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England to send a memo last
> September asking all military departments, defense agencies and employees to
> conserve fuel.
>
> Amid the measures England suggested were increased training on combat
> simulators instead of actual war machines and shutting down engines instead
> of idling.
>
> Two months later, the Pentagon also ordered all defense facilities to cut
> their energy consumption each year by 2 percent and to increase their use of
> renewable energy to 7.5 percent of total demand by 2013 and 25 percent by
> 2025.
>
> Even as the White House repeatedly said the jury was still out on whether
> industrial emissions caused global warming, the Pentagon ordered facilities
> to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.
> Gas-guzzling armor
>
> The biggest gas guzzlers are heavy armored vehicles, such as tanks and
> humvees, and aircraft, such as the massive B-52 bomber.
>
> They were designed decades ago, when gas prices were not an issue. But they
> have remained a vital part of combat missions.
>
> A case in point is the Abrams tank, designed in 1979 for rapid assaults
> across Europe against the Soviet Union.
>
> Its massive armor can survive vicious direct hits and its turbine engine can
> propel it from zero to 20 miles per hour in seven seconds.
>
> But it weighs 70 tons and consumes 56 gallons an hour at full clip and 10
> gallons an hour while idling.
>
> "If we could reduce the amount of fuel we need on the battlefield, that
> would cut down on the number of trucks that have to travel around carrying
> fuel and therefore reduce the number of soldiers exposed to harm's way,"
> said Lt. Col. Mike Flanagan, manager of the U.S. Army's program to improve
> the tank's engine.
>
> Replacing the turbine engine with a more fuel-efficient diesel engine was
> not feasible, so the Army decided to try to make the existing engine last
> twice as long and reduce fuel consumption on stationary missions.
>
> Some tanks already have a small generator attached on the back of the
> turret, while others will get six extra batteries that the crew can run
> instead of idling the engine.
>
> The Army shares all these improvements with the Marines, who use the Abrams
> tank and are also researching a hybrid electric engine for use in
> reconnaissance vehicles.
>
> Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is looking at future applications of fuel cell
> technologies, while the Air Force is studying putting more fuel efficient
> engines on the Vietnam-era B-52 airplane, which remains the Air Force's
> primary bomber.
>
> Copyright 2006 Reuters.
>
>
> *
> ================================================================
> NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
> Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
> 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org
> List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
> Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
> ================================================================
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
>
> iD8DBQFEHzGriz2i76ou9wQRAlGvAKCOWNrvcqfFfCd7JLP7/Cw0HBhyUACeKZSf
> 5HLKm0VVQOd1K4c5wFX4AgI=
> =hZSX
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Seriously Abused Muslim Child-Bride Speaks Out . .
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/cbcfeb0a5c1d1ec9
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 20 2006 9:48 pm
From: N A H
http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs2986
Child Bride
Yahoo News
3/20/05
Kevin Sites
Married at the age of four, an Afghan girl was subjected to years of
beatings and torture, finally escaping to discover that within all the
world's cruelty, there is also some kindness.
KABUL, Afghanistan - Eleven-year old Gulsoma lay in a heap on the
ground in front of her father-in-law. He told her that if she didn't
find a missing watch by the next morning he would kill her. He almost
had already.
Enraged about the missing watch, Gulsoma's father-in-law had beaten
her repeatedly with a stick. She was bleeding from wounds all over her
body and her right arm and right foot had been broken.
She knew at that moment that if she didn't get away, he would make
good on his promise to kill her.
When I meet her at the Ministry of Women's Affairs I'm surprised that
the little girl, now 12, is the same one that had endured such
horrible suffering. She is wearing a red baseball cap and an orange
scarf. She has beautiful brown eyes and a full and animated smile. She
takes one of my hands in both of hers and greets me warmly, without
any hint of shyness.
"She looks healthy," says Haroon, my friend and translator. I nod. But
she looks older than her years, we both agree. In orphanages first
in Kandahar, then in Kabul she has had a year to recover from a
lifetime's worth of unimaginable imprisonment, deprivation and
torture.
In one of the ministry's offices she sits in a straight-backed wooden
chair and tells us the story of her life so far. She is stoic for the
most part, pausing only a few times to wipe her eyes and nose with her
scarf.
Her story begins in the village of Mullah Allam Akhound, near
Kandahar.
"When I was three years old my father died, and after a year my mother
married again, but her second husband didn't want me," says Gulsoma.
"So my mother gave me away in a promise of marriage to our neighbor's
oldest son, who was thirty."
"They had a ceremony in which I was placed on a horse [which is
traditional in Afghanistan] and given to the man."
Because she was still a child, the marriage was not expected to be
sexually consummated. But within a year, Gulsoma learned that so much
else would be required of her that she would become a virtual slave in
the household.
At the age of five, she was forced to take care of not only her
"husband" but also his parents and all 12 of their other children as
well.
Though nearly the entire family participated in the abuse, her
father-in-law, she says, was the cruelest.
"My father-in-law asked me to do everything laundry, the household
chores and the only time I was able to sleep in the house was when
they had guests over," she says. "Other than that I would have to
sleep outside on a piece of carpet without even any blankets. In the
summer it was okay. But in the winter a neighbor would come over and
give me a blanket, and sometimes some food."
When she couldn't keep up with the workload, Gulsoma says, she was
beaten constantly.
"They beat me with electric wires," she says, "mostly on the legs. My
father-in-law told his other children to do it that way so the
injuries would be hidden. He said to them, 'break her bones, but don't
hit her on the face.'"
There were even times when the family's abuse of Gulsoma transcended
the bounds of the most wanton, sadistic cruelty, as on the occasions
when they used her as a human tabletop, forcing her to lie on her
stomach then cutting their food on her bare back.
Gulsoma says the family had one boy her age, named Atiqullah, who
refused to take part in her torture.
"He would sneak me food sometimes and when my mother-in-law told him
to find a stick to beat me, he would come back say he couldn't find
one," she says. "He would try to stop the others sometimes. He would
say 'she is my sister, and this is sinful.' Sometimes I think about
him and wish he could be here and I wish I could have him as my
brother."
One evening, Gulsoma says, when her father-in-law saw the neighbor
giving her food and a blanket, he took them away and beat her
mercilessly. Then, she says, he locked her in a shed for two months.
"I would be kept there all day," she says, "then at night they would
let me go the bathroom and I would be fed one time each day. Most of
the time it was only bread and sometimes some beans."
She says every day she was locked in the shed, she wished and prayed
that her parents would come and take her away. Then she would remember
that her father was dead and her mother was gone.
But Gulsoma had an inner strength even her father-in-law couldn't
comprehend.
"When he came to the shed he kept asking me, 'Why don't you die? I
imprisoned you, I give you less food, but still you don't die.'"
But it wasn't for lack of trying. Gulsoma said when her father-in-law
finally let her out of the shed, he bound her hands behind her back
and beat her unconscious. She says he revived her by pouring a tea
thermos filling with scalding water over her head and her back.
"It was so painful," she says, dabbing her eyes with her scarf and
sniffling for a moment. "I was crying and screaming the entire time."
Five days later, she says, her father in law gave her a vicious
beating when his daughter's wristwatch went missing.
"He thought I stole it," she says, "and he beat me all over my body
with his stick. He broke my arm and my foot. He said if I didn't find
it by the next day, he would kill me."
Gulsoma found hope after escaping. She crawled away that night and hid
under a rickshaw. When the rickshaw driver found Gulsoma, broken and
bleeding, he listened to her story and took her to the police. She was
hospitalized immediately.
"The doctor at the hospital who treated me said, 'I wish I could take
you to the village square and show all the people what happened to
you, so no one would ever do something like this again,'" Gulsoma
says.
It took her a full month to recover from her last beating. But the
fear and psychological trauma may never go away.
"I was happy to have a bed and food at the hospital," she says. "But I
was thinking that when I get better they will give me back to the
family."
However, Gulsoma says when the police questioned the family, the
father-in-law lied and tried to tell them she had epilepsy and had
fallen down and hurt herself. But the neighbor who had helped Gulsoma
confirmed the story of her beatings and torture.
The police arrested her father-in-law and "husband." They told her,
she says, they would keep them in jail unless she asked for their
release.
"Everyone was crying when they heard my story," Gulsoma says.
Gulsoma says she stayed at an orphanage in Kandahar, but was the only
girl in the facility. Eventually, her story was brought to the
attention of the Ministry of Women's Affairs.
The toll of torture. Gulsoma was then brought to a Kabul orphanage,
where she lives today. She takes off her baseball cap and shows us a
bald spot, almost like a medieval monk's tonsure, on the crown of her
head where she was scalded.
She then turns her back and raises her shirt to reveal a sad map of
scar tissue and keloids from cuts, bruises and the boiling water.
Haroon and I look at each other with disbelief. Her life's tragic
story is etched upon her back.
Yet she continues to smile. She doesn't ask for pity. She seems more
concerned about us as she reads the shock on our faces.
"I feel better now," she says. "I have friends at the orphanage. But
every night I'm still afraid the family will come here and pick me
up."
Gulsoma also says that when the sun goes down, she sometimes begins to
shiver involuntarily a reaction to the seven years of sleeping
outdoors, sometimes in the bitter cold of the desert night.
She says she believes there are other girls like her in Kandahar,
maybe elsewhere in Afghanistan, and that she wants to study human
rights and one day go back to help them.
As we walk outside to take some pictures, I ask her if, after all
she's been through, she thinks it will be harder to trust, to believe
that there are actually good people in the world.
"No," she says, quickly.
"I didn't expect anyone would help me but God. I was really surprised
that there were also nice people: the neighbor, the rickshaw driver,
the police," she says. "I pray for those who helped release me."
Looking directly into the camera, she smiles as if nothing bad had
ever happened to her in her entire life.
"I think that all people are good people," she says, "except for those
that hurt me."
--
No Islam, Know Peace........
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TOPIC: Gay Jews are thriving in New York City
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e37b06ddfaeb8960
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Tues, Mar 21 2006 3:51 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
Welcome to the mishpocha! Orthodox Gay Jews are thriving in New York City and around the world. A variety of resources serve our vibrant and growing community.
Is it possible to be gay and frum (a religious observant Jew)? What does the Torah say about homosexuality? What can I do about sex as a frum gay Jew? Complete responses to these and other Frequently Asked Questions about being Gay and Frum are now available. You can also read brief Comments by Orthodox Rabbis and others on the subject.
Check out the Gay and Lesbian Yeshiva and Day School Alumni Association which meets monthly to discuss matters of common interest. This group serves our community and provides a friendly, safe place for individuals to integrate their Jewish and gay identities and to meet others like us. For recorded information, please call anytime (212) 780-4656. Meeting schedule for winter/spring 2006:
Thursday, February 23, at 8:30 pm: Join us as we welcome award-winning author Aryeh Lev Stollman. We will have a reading from his novel The Far Euphrates followed by Q&A, socializing and refreshments.
The Far Euphrates is a Jewish tale of family dynamics and secrets as seen through the eyes of a teenage boy.
" Remarkable both for Stollman's eloquently understated prose and for the ease with which he constructs his artful plot." - New York Times Book Review
" The novel is filled with eccentric characters and detail, but it is Stollman's gorgeous prose that moves us." - Out Magazine
...Thursday, March 23, at 8:30 pm; Thursday, April 27, at 8:30 pm; Thursday, May 25, at 8:30 pm. Meetings are held on the 4th Thursday of each month (barring holiday conflicts) at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center. The Center is located at 208 West 13th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) in New York City (Manhattan).
To join the confidential e-mail list for information about special events and upcoming meetings, send an e-mail to GLYDSA@hotmail.com.
The film Trembling Before G-d is now available on DVD. The film is a documentary about orthodox gay and lesbian Jews. The Trembling Before G-d website has more information.
The book Wrestling With God & Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition by Rabbi Steven Greenberg (Univ. of Wisconsin Press: 2004) is now available in bookstores and online.
The book Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox View by Rabbi Chaim Rapoport (Mitchell Vallentine & Company) is now available in bookstores and online.
Click here for the article "Gay and Orthodox" by Naomi Grossman from the April 2001 issue of Moment Magazine and read comments by others and respond.
POST YOUR IDEAS, THOUGHTS, FEELINGS AND COMMENTS ON BEING GAY AND JEWISH.
Orthodykes, a support group for Orthodox and formerly Orthodox lesbian, bisexual and transgender women has formed in New York City and meets monthly. For recorded information about this group, or to speak with someone, please call at anytime (212) 539-8804 or send an e-mail to: info@orthodykes.org
In California, Orthodox and Traditional gay and lesbian Jews meet the third Sunday of the month in Los Angeles for socializing, education and support. For more details contact Steve, (562) 426-7756 or ar815@lafn.org
A great page for GAY YOUTH has been set up. Check it out at JQYouth.
There are several resources in Jerusalem. Check out the Jerusalem Open House and The Gay and Lesbian Student Union of the Hebrew University - Ha'asiron Ha'acher, which also has a great web page. Another web page for religious Jews in Jerusalem is OrthodoxGays. Have a look!
Conservative Rabbi Harold Schulweis has written two thoughtful articles: Morality, Legality and Homosexuality and A Second Look at Homosexuality. These articles are highly recommended. Another essay by an Oxford Rabbi also may be of interest. Have a look.
An on-line discussion list called frumgays has been established through Shamash. This list is available by subscription and is a safe space. For more information, contact Shamash through its web site.
If you are sexually active, learn about and practice SAFER SEX every time. Safer Sex means knowing how HIV is transmitted and taking precautions to reduce your risk of getting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. HIV is transmitted in body fluids such as semen, vaginal fluid and blood. If you have anal sex, always use a latex rubber condom with water-based lubricant.
If you think you may have been exposed to HIV but have not been tested, now may be the time to do it. There are medications available which make the possibility of a longer, healthier life a reality. If you are apprehensive about getting tested, or have any questions that you need answered about HIV or AIDS, call the Tzvi Aryeh AIDS Foundation, which provides support and programs for all Jews, gay and straight, from secular to Orthodox and Chassidic. The Foundation provides information, makes referrals and is available to answer questions in English, Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian. It also offers a kosher food program for homebound people with AIDS, a friendly visitor and buddy network, and understanding Rabbis from all denominations for counseling. For more information call 212-866-6306 anytime or e-mail TzviAryeh@aol.com or write to P.O. Box 150, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025.
For additional information about our community, please contact via e-mail GayJews@aol.com.
"And G-d saw all that He had made, and found it very good." (Bereshit 1:31).
"It is not good for man to be alone." (Bereshit 2:18).
"Master of the world, I am Yours and my dreams are Yours. I have dreamed a dream and I don't know what it means. May it be Your will that all my dreams regarding myself and regarding all of Israel be good ones, those that I have dreamed about myself, those that I have dreamed about others, and those that others have dreamed about me." (Birkat Kohanim).
"In the path that a person wants to follow, Heaven leads
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