Christians being killed by Egyptian military



Egyptian security forces, in the background, clashed with Christians and other demonstrators in Cairo on Sunday night.

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK  Published: October 9, 2011

Now that the military is firmly in control in Egypt, the Coptic Christians are more vulnerable than ever. When one of their churches was attacked and the Christians went out into the streets to protest, the military crushed them, killing dozens and wounding hundreds.

State television urged "Honest Egyptians to turn out to protect the soldiers from Christian protesters."
Other Muslims ran out into the streets to protect the Christian protesters

According to a recent NY Times article: Thousands filled the streets of downtown, many armed with rocks, clubs or machetes. Witnesses said several protesters were crushed under military vehicles.
The protest took place against a backdrop of escalating tensions between Muslims and Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population. Christians had joined the pro-democracy protests in large numbers, hoping for the protections of a pluralistic, democratic state, but a surge in power of Islamists has raised fears of how much tolerance majority rule will allow.

The military and riot police, on the other hand, appeared at some points to be working in tandem with Muslims who were lashing out at the Coptic Christians. As security forces cleared the streets around 10 p.m., police officers in riot gear marched back and forth through the streets of downtown alongside a swarm of hundreds of men armed with clubs and stones chanting, “The people want to bring down the Christians,” and, later, “Islamic, Islamic.”

“Until when are we going to live in this terror?” asked a Christian demonstrator who gave his name only as John. “This is not the issue of Muslim and Christian, this is the issue of the freedom that we demanded and can’t find.”

This is exactly what I was concerned about when the democracy movement started in Egypt. The Copts came out in force to protest the burning of their churches and helped spur the anti-Mubarak protests that became the 'Arab Spring.' Now they stand in a precarious position without the dictatorship protecting their rights. Will they be better or worse off in the new Egypt? And what will follow in Syria when Assad falls?

Metropolitan Etiquette Authority

Jason Shelowitz unveiled all the signs in his latest etiquette project and started placing them around Manhattan


Here's a one-man project we can all get behind. Mr. Shelowitz, a graphic designer and artist, has posted street signs across the city claiming authority of the “Metropolitan Etiquette Authority,” a one-man collective whose logo is printed on the bottom of each sign. The signs look like those that might come from a real organization like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

This follows on the heels of his earlier project putting up Subway Posters like those shown below:

Here's a video of him putting up his street signs:

Read more in this Times article.

Nobel committee highlights women's rights in Middle East

Yemen's Tawakul Karman, the chairwoman of 'Women Journalists Without Chains', shouts slogans during an anti-government protest in Sa'ana. Feb 10, 2011. Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

In addition to the winners from Liberia, the Nobel Prize committee chose to highlight women's rights in the governments emerging from the Arab Spring by granting an award to Tawakul Karman. They are saying quite clearly to the world that women's rights in these emerging governments are much on the minds of the West. This move will make great strides in ensuring that these emerging governments, in whatever form they take, must be careful in imposing Shariah law or other oppressive regimes on their women.

Look how the granting of a prize to Aung San Suu Kyi has granted her protection and shone a light on the oppressive regime in Burma. I expect a similar light to shine on the women who helped make the Arab Spring revolutions a reality and who don't wish to be shunted off to the sidelines as they were in Iran.

I loved the Tweet from Wael Ghonim about her award:

Hearty Congrats to Tawakul Karman as she made us all proud :) Our ultimate prize is a democratic Arab World that respects human rights.Fri Oct 07 09:31:39 via webWael Ghonim
Ghonim

Below is Tawakul Karman talking to the press after receiving her award.

For more details, click on the link to read the N.Y. Times article.

Twentieth Excerpt of "Twelve Towers"

Gwilym used his ruler to draw a wall from corner to corner that divided the tower neatly into barracks and silo.

“Now let’s write down exactly what this tower looks like,” said Gwilym.

The men all gathered around the second parchment. The overall placement and dimensions of the tower were set by Kay and caused no dispute. The placement and dimensions of the silo were hotly argued over. Half of the tower meant different things to the masons than to Gwilym. The masons expected that the interior dimensions of the silo should equal exactly half the exterior dimensions of the tower and they couldn’t be made to understand that the walls took up space.

Finally Fred spoke up. “This drawin’ down here shows a cross-section of t’tower, right Gwilym?”

Gwilym agreed.

“Then how about if I draw t’wall separatin’ t’tower from t’silo and t’masons pick which side they want?”

The masons were immediately suspicious and refused this trickery.

“Alright then, tha draw the wall and Gwilym will pick which side goes to t’tower.”

This brought a hurried consultation amongst the workers, farmer and shipper. They squatted on the ground next to the table and scratched out various options in the dirt until they realized what Fred was really proposing: the only fair way to divide the tower.

Finally Athelstan spoke to Gwilym. “You are de best writer here. You draw de separating vall and ve vill pick our side.”

Gwilym used his ruler to draw a wall from corner to corner that divided the tower neatly into barracks and silo. Athelstan picked one side and Gwilym drew the location of the stairs on the barracks side. Then he drew interior walls on the rest of the silo’s triangular section, indicating a smooth surface covering the wooden supports. There was still some grumbling as the men saw that their interior dimensions were smaller but Athelstan explained the fairness to them and they shut up.

Gwilym then worked with the farmer to decide where the road should go and where they should have an opening in the side to pour in the grain. Then he worked with the shipper on the placement of the openings leading to the channel. After computing in his head for a while, Gwilym wrote out a series of numbers, showing how much extra stone and clay they would need to line the silo and the channel to the water. “This you will need to supply,” he told Athelstan.

“Dis tower vill take all vinter to build,” replied Athelstan. “How do ve protect our grain until den?”

“Gather some building materials and build a temporary shelter here. Then, as we build the silo you can add grain as we go. You can use a temporary roof to protect it.”

When they had all reached agreement on every detail of the tower, Gwilym signed the bottom of both parchments and asked all men present to do the same.

He titled the first: Requirements of the Airmyn Watchtower.

He titled the second: Scope of the Airmyn Watchtower

Fred stared off into the distance, moving his lips, and Gwilym knew that he was composing another verse or two in his Project Management Guide song. Bleddyn brought more ale and then everyone broke off for lunch. 

Although Gwilym had solved the

What kind of Middle East will emerge out of the Arab Spring?

Ali Sallabi, left, a Libyan, and Abdel Moneim Abou el-Fotouh, an Egyptian, say

their states should blend Islam and modernity. 

Now that the dictators have been chased from office and the people hold the power, the fight over the futures of the newly 'free' Arab states of Tunisia, Libya Egypt and Algeria is being fought in earnest. Many different goups are vying for a say in the emerging governments and many outside forces and trying to have their say.

While Western governments are fearing another Islamic republic in the mold of Iran, Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pushing for a parliamentary system with room for Islamic parties like their own version of the Muslim Brotherhood: the Justice and Development Party.

Read this article for details on the debates. Below are some relevant extracts:

Mr. Ghannouchi, the Tunisian Islamist, has suggested a common ambition, proposing what some say Mr. Erdogan’s party has managed to achieve: a prosperous, democratic Muslim state, led by a party that is deeply religious but operates within a system that is supposed to protect liberties.

Abdel Moneim Abou el-Fotouh, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader who is running for president in Egypt, has joined several new breakaway political parties in arguing that the state should avoid interpreting or enforcing Islamic law, regulating religious taxes or barring a person from running for president based on gender or religion.

And the most powerful current in Egypt, still represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, has stubbornly resisted some of the changes in discourse.

When Mr. Erdogan expressed hope for “a secular state in Egypt,” meaning, he explained, a state equidistant from all faiths, Brotherhood leaders immediately lashed out, saying that Mr. Erdogan’s Turkey offered no model for either Egypt or its Islamists.

A Brotherhood spokesman, Mahmoud Ghozlan, accused Turkey of violating Islamic law by failing to criminalize adultery. “In the secularist system, this is accepted, and the laws protect the adulterer,” he said, “But in the Shariah law this is a crime.”

An interesting take on the Arab neighbors is the theory that the Saudi state is not operating within Islamic law at all. In an interview, one of the former Muslim Brotherhood, Islam Lotfy, argued that the strictly religious kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the Koran is ostensibly the constitution, was less Islamist than Turkey. “It is not Islamist; it is dictatorship,” said Mr. Lotfy, who was recently expelled from the Brotherhood for starting the new party. A lofty theory indeed. :)

Click on the last link for a series of readers' comments on this article.

Strauss-Kahn now wants immunity for rape.

After getting off from criminal rape charges because his victim had a dubious past, Strauss-
Kahn now has the gall to ask for diplomatic immunity against the sexual-assault lawsuit his victim is pursuing against him.

Even though he doesn't have diplomatic status now, he was head of the IMF during the crime so he feels he should be immune from prosecution for any crimes he committed at the time. This claim does wonders for explaining where his head was at while he raped the housekeeper. He truly felt that he was above the law.

In this article, notice the last chapter where the housekeeper's lawyers enumerate the reasons he should be denied immunity:
(1) he is not a diplomat;
(2) according to his own story, he was in New York on ‘personal’ business;
(3) he, not the I.M.F., paid for his room at the Sofitel; and
(4) he was obviously acting in his personal capacity when he violently attacked Ms. Diallo

Meanwhile one of his many other victims has come forth and is pursuing rape charges against him in Paris.

This time the victim, Tristane Barone, has an unblemished past and makes a more believable witness. Let's see how the weasel tries to get out of this one.

Twitter saves Amazing Race contestants

Las Vegas showgirl contestants who lost a passport on the first leg of 'The Amazing Race'

I haven't seen the point of Twitter in the past. It seems like a bunch of random shouts into cyberspace. (Unlike this blog which is a somewhat less random shout into cyberspace that uses a lot more words) but I saw it save a couple of contestants of The Amazing Race on Sunday.

The pair of Las Vegas showgirls dropped one of their passports in a gas station parking lot on the way to the airport. Amazingly, they not only discovered that they had done so but figured out where they dropped it and went back to the scene. Unfortunately they asked around at the gas station to no avail; nobody had seen their lost passport. What to do? Lost passports have always meant immediate eliminations to teams on previous seasons.

They chose to go to the airport anyway, hoping that the passport was being brought to them there. Not a bad choice. Whenever a plan goes awry, the best bet is, if you can't pick up the lost thread, continue with the original plan by moving to the next step. 

After the brief meltdown and recriminations in the airport, they got some fantastic news. Someone had indeed found their passport and brought it to the airport. But why they did so is the real story here.

The man who found the passport is a Twitter user who posted that he had been briefly filmed on Amazing Race and had found the passport.

So #TheLife gets crazier so after being randomly filmed on amazing

race I see that one of them dropped there passport. (sic)

Some Amazing Race super fan picked up his post on an RSS feed and realized the importance of this information. She replied to Storms that the contestant needs the passport and directed him to get it to the airport so she could continue with her race.

Meanwhile producers found the post in Taiwan, the next destination, and sent word to LAX to warn the host that he may not need to perform an early elimination after all.

Check out the details in this article.