February 3rd, 2013
As US troops prepare to leave Afghanistan, a new brand of warrior emerges
Published on February 3rd, 2013 @ 02:00:18 pm , using 660 words
Conservative Refocus / The Examiner / Kim Stallings
The U.S. mainstream media has remained characteristically silent about the continued violence in Afghanistan; as a result, few people know that a number of attacks by the Taliban occurred in Kabul on the day of President Obama’s inauguration, and at least six US-led troops were killed in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on January 29th.
Even as President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently endorsed, on January 11, 2013, the opening of a "Taliban office" in a third-party country, and made plans to accelerate the schedule for U.S. troops shifting fully to a supporting role by spring, the Taliban remains a tremendous threat to Afghanistan’s stability.
Obama has stated that the capabilities of the Afghan army exceed “initial expectations," (whose expectations, we do not know), yet the Taliban continue to commit acts of war and brutal attacks on civilians.
Since the beginning of the Afghan War in late 2001, more than 2,000 U.S. troops and nearly 1,100 coalition troops have died there, and more than 1,200 Afghan soldiers died in 2012 compared to more than 550 in 2011, according to data compiled by the Washington-based Brookings Institution. The number of civilian casualties is estimated to be more than 20,000, the majority perpetrated by the Taliban.
Yet in the midst of this continued violence, oppression and uncertainty, in Kandahar, a war-torn southern province of Afghanistan, often referred to as the “birthplace” of the Taliban, one woman wages a unique battle of her own.
Malina Suliman: Warrior Artist
Her weapons of choice: A paint brush, sculpting clay, a spray can. Her battlefield: Sometimes a canvas, sometimes a kiln, sometimes a concrete wall.
At times working in abject fear during the day, more typically by flashlight after dark, 23 year-old Malina Suliman creates and boldly displays paintings and sculptures that depict and express what life is truly like for the oppressed people of her country -- particularly the women.
In nearby, and somewhat safer, Kabul (safer being a relative term), Suliman has chosen to make her home and pursue her career. Scorched bodies lay strewn against blood-stained walls -- not an uncommon sight in Afghanistan -- but what makes this grisly scene different is that the blood is red paint -- and part of one of Suliman’s art projects.
Her goal? To give voice to those who do not have a voice, to raise awareness.
Suliman’s story has recently been covered in a number of news articles around the world. She has been portrayed as a brave, young artist, waging battle against the oppressive Taliban. Indeed, the path she has chosen to take with her life is full of undeniable risks, but key elements have been left out of her story in most accounts -- perhaps because they are not -- on the surface -- as glamorous, edgy or easily juxtaposed to the acts of war she exposes through her artwork. But the rest of Suliman’s story only serves to enrich the power of her work and her status as a figure of hope for those who are still living under the weight of Islamist oppression.
Unlike most women in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern, Islamist countries, Suliman is educated. She somehow managed to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Council Karachi in 2010 and then moved back to her home city, Kandahar, where she founded a local art group, Kandahar Fine Arts Association (KFAA). Enormous accomplishments for anyone in that country -- particularly a woman.
According to Suliman, “The night of my first exhibit my family told me ‘if you go, don’t come back’.”
While her sisters and mother now quietly support her, her brothers and father remain fiercely opposed. She lives under the constant, real threat of death in retaliation for her defiance of Shariah law.
When asked if she is scared, she mentions her sculpture of a hanged woman and smiles.
“That’s what happens to women when they ask for their rights in this country,” she says with defiance and determination.
And she fights on…
Read more here...
PermalinkJanuary 12th, 2013
School shootings: 20 years of questions and no answers
Published on January 12th, 2013 @ 05:42:29 pm , using 1865 words
Conservative Refocus / Kim Stallings
More than 387 U.S.school shootings have been recorded on the websitehttp://www.stoptheshootings.org/since 1992. We can now add one more to the list. On January 10, 2013, a Taft Union High School student in CA was targeted and shot by a classmate. After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the media's attention has turned, once again, to this particular phenomenon (not unique to the U.S., but perhaps more prevalent here). Numbers are shocking, but the details are often forgotten as time goes on. Below is a partial list with details from infoplease.com. Feb. 2, 1996 Feb. 19, 1997 Oct. 1, 1997 Dec. 1, 1997 Dec. 15, 1997 March 24, 1998 April 24, 1998 May 19, 1998 May 21, 1998 June 15, 1998 April 20, 1999 May 20, 1999 Nov. 19, 1999 Dec. 6, 1999 Feb. 29, 2000 March 10, 2000 May 26, 2000 Sept. 26, 2000 Jan. 17, 2001 March 5, 2001 March 7, 2001 March 22, 2001 March 30, 2001 Nov. 12, 2001 Jan. 15, 2002 October 28, 2002 April 14, 2003 April 24, 2003 Sept. 24, 2003 March 21, 2005 Nov. 8, 2005 Aug. 24, 2006 Sept. 27, 2006 Sept. 29, 2006 Oct. 3, 2006 Jan. 3, 2007 April 16, 2007 Sept. 21, 2007 Oct. 10, 2007 Feb. 8, 2008 Feb. 11, 2008 Feb. 12, 2008 Feb. 14, 2008 Nov. 12, 2008 Feb. 5, 2010 Feb. 12, 2010 March 9, 2010 Jan. 5, 2011 Jan. 5, 2011 May 10, 2011 Dec. 8, 2011 Feb. 10, 2012 Feb. 27, 2012 March 6, 2012 April 2, 2012 December 14, 2012 After a school shooting occurs, typically a number of similar attempts follow shortly after. This is known as ‘The Copycat Effect’ and is perpetuated by media coverage of these tragic events. Almost without exception, with each shooting, the usual suspects become the focus of inquiry: Gun control, media violence (including movies, music, and video games), bullying, etc. Rarely, if ever, do we find a vigilant focus on mental health and personal or parental responsibility, yet the age range of most school shooters is between 13 and 20. Most school shooters are legally considered to be children under the guardianship of their parents. Another point worth noting: What is seldom talked about in the media is that, between 2000 and 2010, more than 120 attempted school shootings were prevented thanks to the vigilance of parents, school administrators and law enforcement. So this type of tragedy can be prevented. But it demands, not a media focus on easily blamed targets (and the call for legislative intervention), but a refocus on the real issues. What has changed in our culture in the past 20 years? What needs to change, now? Starting at home and within our communities? Since Columbine, “The good news is that schools have become much better at averting these incidents since Columbine and Sandy Hook,’’ said Ken Trump, president of the school security consulting group. “The bad news is that we will always have incidents that will slip through the cracks when you’re dealing with human behavior.” Human behavior -- a difficult thing to predict. However, watchful parents and other adults can do a lot to prevent these tragedies from happening. Are we asking the right questions, beyond 'Why?' Are we taking 'right actions'?
Moses Lake, WA. Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.
Bethel, AK Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.
Pearl, MS. Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.
West Paducah, KY. Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.
Stamps, AR. Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot.
Jonesboro, AR. Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.
Edinboro, PA. One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.
Fayetteville, TN. One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis.
Springfield, OR. Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.
Richmond, VA. One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.
Littleton, CO. 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.
Conyers, GA. Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.
Deming, NM. Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.
Fort Gibson, OK. Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.
Mount Morris Township, MI. Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.
Savannah, GA. Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.
Lake Worth, FL. One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.
New Orleans, LA. Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.
Baltimore, MD. One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.
Santee, CA. Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.
Williamsport, PA. Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.
Granite Hills, CA. One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman.
Gary, IN. One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.
Caro, MI. Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.
New York, NY. A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.
Tucson, AZ. Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself.
New Orleans, LA. One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related.
Red Lion, PA. James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.
Cold Spring, MN. Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15.
Red Lake, MN. Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, and then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead.
Jacksboro, TN. One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators.
Essex, VT. Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had killed the ex-girlfriend's mother.
Bailey, CO. Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself.
Cazenovia, WI. A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal John Klang.
Nickel Mines, PA. 32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died.
Tacoma, WA. Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School.
Blacksburg, VA. A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, and then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded.
Dover, DE. A Delaware State University Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge.
Cleveland, OH. A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims' injuries were not life-threatening.
Baton Rouge, LA. A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.
Memphis, TN. A 17-year-old student at Mitchell High School shot and wounded a classmate in gym class.
Oxnard, CA. A 14-year-old boy shot a student at E.O. Green Junior High School causing the 15-year-old victim to be brain dead.
DeKalb, IL. Gunman killed five students, then himself, and wounded 17 more when he opened fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007.
Fort Lauderdale, FL. A 15-year-old female student was shot and killed by a classmate at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale.
Madison, AL. At Discovery Middle School, a ninth-grader was shot by another student during a class change. The boy, whose name was not released, pulled out a gun and shot Todd Brown in the head while walking the hallway. Brown later died at Huntsville Hospital.
Huntsville, AL. During a meeting on campus, Amy Bishop, a biology professor, began shot her colleagues, killing three and wounding three others. A year earlier, Bishop had been denied tenure.
Columbus, OH. A man opens fire at Ohio State University, killing two employees and wounding one other. The shooter had recently received an "unsatisfactory" job evaluation and was going to be fired on March 13.
Omaha, NE. Two people were killed and two more injured in a shooting at Millard South High School. Shortly after being suspended from school, the shooter returned and shot the assistant principal, principal, and the school nurse. The shooter then left campus and took his own life.
Houston, TX. Two people opened fire during a Worthing High School powder-puff football game. One former student died. Five other people were injured.
San Jose, CA. Three people were killed in a parking garage at San Jose State University. Two former students were found dead on the fifth floor of the garage. A third, the suspected shooter, died later at the hospital.
Blacksburg, VA. A Virginia Tech police officer was shot and killed by a 22-year old student of Radford University. The shooting took place in a parking lot on Virginia Tech's campus.
Walpole, NH. 14-year-old student shot himself in front of 70 fellow students.
Chardon, OH. At Chardon High School, a former classmate opened fire, killing three students and injuring six. Arrested shortly after the incident, the shooter said that he randomly picked students.
Jacksonville, FL. Shane Schumerth, a 28-year-old teacher at Episcopal High School, returned to the campus after being fired and shot and killed the headmistress, Dale Regan, with an assault rifle.
Oakland, CA. One Goh, a 43-year-old former student at Oikos University, a Christian school populated by mostly Korean and Korean-Americans, opened fire on the campus, killing seven people and wounding several others.
Newtown, CT. Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six others at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. He killed his mother, Nancy, at her home prior to the massacre at the school. Lanza committed suicide after the rampage. The shooting was the second deadliest in U.S. history, behind the 2007 shooting at Virginia Polytechnic Institute that claimed 32 people.
November 25th, 2012
Facebook factcheck: Iranian cleric declared women cause adultery, earthquakes
Published on November 25th, 2012 @ 05:29:02 pm , using 304 words
Conservative Refocus / The Examiner
By Susan Stallings
A photo is currently circulating around various Facebook groups and pages, which includes a quotation that seems so completely absurd a rational mind would have to do a double-take and question its veracity.
The picture/wall poster displays a photograph of Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, a senior Iranian cleric, and the following quotation attributed to Sedighi:
"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes...”
Say what?
It is no secret that Islamists believe that women must cover their bodies because God directed them to do so in order to maintain purity of thought and action for men and women. The head cover, known as an hijab, is specifically mentioned in 24:31 of the Qur'an.
But earthquakes?
This bizarre idea that women, by revealing their hair and other body parts, cause natural disasters is nothing new, particularly in Iran, one of the most seismically active countries in the world, with fault lines covering approximately 90% of the country.
The cleric's explanation for why the earth shakes was given in 2010 following a prediction by President Ahmadinejad that a quake of devastating magnitude was destined to hit Tehran and force the relocation of many of its 12 million citizens.
Since that prediction, Iran has been struck by four major earthquakes, the most severe in August 2012 with more than 300 casualties.
"What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?” Sedighi questioned and stated, “There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes.”
So for the sake of the country, Muslim women in Iran (and elsewhere) must remain buried under burkas and prehistoric-minded blame.
As a good friend of mine often reminds me, you just can’t make this stuff up.
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