...and business as usual in Saudi Arabia. It's an absolute disgrace that the U.S. is on such good terms with that nation. We treat their royalty like, well, royalty when they visit, and look the other way about this sort of barbarity on their own citizens, solely because we need their oil. At what point do we collectively decide we've had enough and demand that they enter at least the 18th Century?
Saudi court ups punishment for gang-rape victim (CNN) -- A court in Saudi Arabia increased the punishment
for a gang-rape victim after her lawyer won an appeal of the sentence
for the rapists, the lawyer told CNN.
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, received sentences ranging from 10
months to five years in prison.
The victim's attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, contested the
rapists' sentence, contending there is a fatwa, or edict under Islamic
law, that considers such crimes Hiraba (sinful violent crime) and the
punishment should be death.
"After a year, the preliminary court
changed the punishment and made it two to nine years for the
defendants," al-Lahim said of the new decision handed down Wednesday.
"However, we were shocked that they also changed the victim's sentence
to be six months in prison and 200 lashes."
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.
Judge Saad al-Muhanna from the Qatif General Court
also barred al-Lahim from defending his client and revoked his law
license, al-Lahim said. The attorney has been ordered to attend a
disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Justice next month.
....
If you ever wondered how the Texas State Legislature manages to so efficiently pass such a blistering number of laws when "in session," here's how.
Next time you hear these folks waxing lyrical how it's so important to ensure that ineligible voters among the ordinary citizenry are excluded from the polls as to risk turning away larger numbers of eligible voters, consider if we might spring a few bucks to simply install locks on the voting panels in the capitol.
If they have to pass fewer laws because they can't gather up an actual quorum for their busy agenda, what a crying shame that would be.
With David Wallace Croft's suit to eliminate the state-mandated "moment of silence" in Texas public schools, we've heard from quite a few "freedom-loving" Fox fans telling him and all other non-believers to quit "wasting" the court's time (and tax dollars) pushing an "atheist agenda." Bringing such suits is somehow an assault on your religious freedom, you say.
In who's America do legal mandates equal freedom?
This isn't about whether being utterly quiet for a minute at the start of the school day might be a good idea, it's about the law. The law is very serious business -- always think twice before handing them yet another bludgeon. Ask yourself whether it's right and proper for the state to mandate anything at all regarding religious observance, and to what extent the law should dictate how the limited time of a school day is spent.
Honestly now, do you NEED this law? Somaybe your kids can't find time enough to pray in their busy day. Who's problem is that? The state's? REALLY?
Regarding "moments of silence" in general, do you really need a captive audience to watch you pray? Whatever happened to Matthew 6:5-6?
If you're truly concerned about waste, tell your legislators and governor to quit WASTING our tax dollars creating laws that are bound to be Constitutionally challenged in the courts, and to quit WASTING limited education funds on non-education-related mandates. Vote the sanctimonious prigs out of office who can think of nothing better to spend our money on than seeing how far the courts will let them push their "majority" religion in public schools.
