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The Bravest Woman I Know_____
(toutcute.com)
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Twenty-seven year old Malalai Joya, is the bravest person I know. She is one of sixty-eight women in the Afghanistan Parliament.
Will she live? Based on the mentality of the Muslims, who knows? Just think: these are the same people who sentenced an Afghan to die merely because he became a Christian. He's in Italy now and this brave young woman may need to think about staying in America where she is now visiting. She commented, "Every time I walk out of Parliament, I think, 'is somebody waiting to kill me?' "
But she gets it.
..."Every day I look into the eyes of warlords and commanders who have ordered the killings of hundreds or thousands of Afghans, and I wonder how they can be allowed to be the people's representatives." ...
"I couldn't take watching these warlords in the new government of Afghanistan, so on the first day of the assembly I stood up and asked the constitutional commission why these criminals were a part of the future of the country and not in an international court, being tried for war crimes."
As a result of her bravery, she has received death threats and several attempts have been made on her life; but many Afghans, especially women, think she is a hero. KT
Read more about Malalai Joya:
Young member of Afghan Parliament speaks out against warlord colleagues by
Halima Kazem(San Francisco Chronicle)
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_____
The Power Of Grief By Ruth Lukkari_____
(Rhymer in the sunset)
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This is a short excerpt from Ruth Lukkari's soon to be published ebook, The Power of Grief.
Related Articles:
Faces Behind The Names by Ruth Lukkari
Tim's Letter From Nam
The links above require adobe acrobat reader. If you don't already have it, you can download at Adobe.com.
If you have adobe reader, click first on the links above. The links should open; but, if not, then open adobe reader and then click on the links above.
| | THE CASE OF THE STRIPPER AND THE DUKE LACROSSE TEAM BY KT
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Updated night of Wednesday April 19, 2006:
Duke suspends accused lacrosse players, source says(Cnn.com)
From ABC By Chris Cuomo, Eric Avram, and Lara Setrakian
2 Duke Lacrosse Players Are Arrested by Tim Whitmire, Associated Press Writer (on Philadelphia Inquirer)
(AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
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THE CASE OF THE STRIPPER AND THE DUKE LACROSSE TEAM-what a great title for a novel.
Unless you have been on a different planet, you have heard of the stripper and the Duke lacrosse team. Up until a couple of years
ago, I didn't even know there was such a thing as lacrosse. I did know of a favorite town in Wisconsin name LaCrosse.
But a game? Never heard of it.
Then a buddy invited me to see his son play. He actually guilted me into it, reminding me that I had promised to watch his kids play soccer. Why not lacrosse? OK!!!!!!!!!!
Well, lacrosse is some game! It's fast and doesn't seem to have any rules. It is soccer with sticks, but skillful; and, to be honest, I enjoyed it.
In fact, I witnessed one of the supreme acts of sportsmanship while watching my buddy's son play. An opposing player clipped my friend's son and sent him sprawling and a fight was sure to ensue. But Brian, my buddy's son, jumped up and hugged the guy. Wow. I like this lacrosse.
Well, forget that, I found out later, hugging ain't one of the rules in lacrosse.
Of late, the Duke lacrosse team has taken it on the shins and rightly so, I guess. They hired a stripper and she later claimed three of the team members raped her. Now, no DNA is present.
Regardless, these guys should not be engaging in underage drinking or hiring strippers.
What are we to think? Boorish behavior, frat boys, what? Maybe we will find out more this week.
Bunch of Privileged White Boys
(http://texastech.cstv.com)
| Well, maybe there is some of "privileged white boy" syndrome at play, but there is also a culture, from what I read, existing at Duke. It surely is not just Duke but those anywhere who "drink at the fountain of college sports." We can rightly call it worship. Geez, when Duke didn't make the final four in basketball, people were asking what for. Come on! Then we see Coach K. more on TV in American Express commercials than we see Colin Farrell in the movies.
Duke History
(http://www.byways.org)
| I've never been much of a Duke man, being a native North Carolinian- too many Yankees, but it is a good school no doubt about it. And, tobacco money still permeates the place.
I'm probably one of the few
who can recall the story of how Duke came to be. It was Trinity College and the Dukes showed up and said, Hey, want some real money, like billions, just change the name to Duke. You got it, Trinity who?
Over the years, Duke has gained a reputation as an academically superior school. It has a Medical School, Divinity School, Law School and on and on.
And, now we know they have a lacrosse team. My suspicion is that they are a bunch of yankees. All that aside, are they guilty? Probably not by of the letter of the law. But bad behavior is surely in evidence. And, it just didn't happen.
Enter The Lacrosse Team
(AP Photo/ Sara D. Davis)
| The season is gone, the coach is gone, and Duke's reputation is tarnished! Good enough punishment? We'll see.
Think about it.
What do we expect was going to happen with a bunch of drunk twenty year olds and a couple of strippers? They were going to be sitting around reading the Bible?
And, how about the lacrosse team member, who sent the e-mail claiming he wanted to invite strippers to his dorm room, kill them, and skin them? In his e-mail ,the lacrosse player wanted to "skin the bitches." Are he and his teammates sisters under the skin? I think so.
This emailer joins the recent academy of politicians and perverts who often think they are above the law. Think of bureaucrats like the Department of Homeland Security employee who just got pinched for soliciting a teenager over the internet.
Disconnect between Two Universities and The Locals
Duke is not any different than most schools. There's a disconnect between Duke University, North Carolina Central University, and the locals in Durham, North Carolina, From what I read(or it just could be the media) a racial divide as well as a divide between an elite private school and a state supported school is emerging.
The defendents, the Lacrosse team members, attend Duke. The acuser, the African-American exotic dancer or stripper attends North Carolina Central. Duke is upper class and predominantly white. North Carolina Central's students are predominantly black and Durham's population is almost half black.(Reminds me of the similar tension in the movie, Breaking Away , in which the local teenagers were looked down upon by the students at the university.)
The best illustration of what might have happened in the Old West comes from my favorite TV mini series, Lonesome Dove involving the characters Call, the righteous curmudgeon, and Newt, his son. Newt gets a sound thrashing from some stranger because he is loyal to a fault. Call witnesses it and beats the stranger nearly to death and finally says to the onlookers, "I can't stand rude behavior and won't tolerate it."
Well, what happened at Duke goes beyond rude behavior (and yes, I know, by law and for humane purposes we can not beat-up people- just an illustration.)
If these young men did not rape this young woman, they deserve an apology from her and she needs to suffer consequence.
Nevertheless, these guys have no excuse for the underage drinking and strippers.
A Suggestion
My idea for the Duke Lacrosse team is a stint in the Army. Learn some discipline, civil behavior, true teamwork, a little sacrifice, and how to respect females under any and all circumstances.
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| Still Reading The Obituaries by John Henry Lee
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I always read the obituaries. Many folks say it is a sign of getting old, but I've always done it. One of my buddies in Arizona once was an obituary writer for the Phoenix Sun. Before I got to know him, I didn't know there was such an occupation.
All obituaries are sad, but some are amusing and leave you wondering "Why would they write that?"
The obituaries that I read yesterday were a hoot: One was about this guy who was the "door keeper" for the Geary theater in San Francisco, where many of the nationally renowned plays are performed before going on to Broadway.
This guy and his third wife had been married for forty-one years; and, in one statement, she said, "We've been married a long time but I don't know much about him. He didn't share a lot."
I smiled. Forty-one years together and you not know much about your mate? The paper merely said, "Despite being married all this time, Mr. Kershaw was private about his life." OK?
Another obituary was about a local guy from San Francisco who died of AIDs. He was a ventriloquist and had kept a diary of his illness. He apparently was somewhat irascible and the paper said, "Despite his public roles, Mr. Kay was far from famous or even well liked. His father loved him; but, even he admits, that Mr. Kay was often annoying, even alienating. He was a fussbudget. He was demanding. Everything had to be his way."- Weird. In North Carolina, we have an unwritten rule, you never "speak ill of the dead."
When folks write obituaries, they should see death more like a quote from William Shakespeare:
And, when he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars and he will make the face of Heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with light.
WM Shakespeare
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Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
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A few days ago a friend of mine e-mailed me a link to an article written by Jim Sheeler of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado entitled Final Salute.
In the article, Major Steve Beck, a Marine casuality assistance officer, describes one of the
most "powerful" death notifications in which he participated. It was the death notification of 2nd. Lt. James Cathey.
You read about the Major's time with the Lt. James Cathey's pregnant wife, Katherine, and his family. The most powerful moment, in my opinion,
was when Katherine requested to sleep beside her husband one more time; so, the night before the funeral, the Marines made her a bed with blankets and mattress in front of James' casket and stood guard over James and Katherine the entire night.
Read Final Salute by Jim Sheeler KT
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Now Available: Newly revised paperback General Lee:Father of the Airborne.