Kyoto, the ICC, the ABM Treaty, and now this?

UNITED NATIONS – The United States has refused to join 85 other heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman’s right to education, health care, and choice about having children.

President Bush (news – web sites)’s administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to “sexual rights.”

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan wrote to organizers of the statement that that the United States was committed to the Cairo plan of 1994 and “to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women’s fullest enjoyment of universal human rights.”

“The United States is unable, however, to endorse the world leaders’ statement,” Ryan said, because it “includes the concept of `sexual rights,’ a term that has no agreed definition in the international community.”

[Associated Press, October 14 2004]

This month in Muslim (and Sikh) world issues . . .

Eight female Muslim students were the victims of a hate crime Thursday night when three males threw water on them and screamed derogatory statements, police said.

The UC Berkeley students were stargazing from the Vista Parking Lot at the Lawrence Hall of Science when they were confronted by three white males in a black car about 10:30 p.m., said UC police Capt. Patrick Carroll.

The males sprayed the victims with water and threw water bottles at them before driving off, police said.

8 Female Muslims Victims of Hate Crime
By MARY-KAMEKO SHIBATA
The Daily Californian
Contributing Writer
Monday, September 20, 2004

Fifty students flocked to Crossroads Dining Commons last night to protest dining staff who tried to kick out a Sikh student for carrying his ceremonial dagger while eating his lunch last week.

Dozens of students donned the daggers to rebuff the dining staffÕs actions, which they called discriminatory and an attack on civil liberties.

Last Friday, freshman Mansheel Singh was told to remove his KirpanÑa ceremonial dagger devout Sikhs are required to wear at all timesÑby two Crossroads staff members.

The dining staff told Singh he would not be allowed inside the DC until he removed his 7-inch Kirpan, even after he explained that it was a religious article he could not take off, Singh said.

Students Rail Scrutiny of Sikh
By SONJA SHARP
The Daily Californian
Contributing Writer
Friday, September 24, 2004

EDITOR’S NOTE: Andrea Armstrong graduated from North Bend High School and was voted the Midwestern League girls basketball most valuable player her senior season in 1999-2000.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Andrea Armstrong doesn’t look like the enemy, yet she stands accused of being a traitor. She doesn’t act like the enemy, yet she’s been insulted, threatened and stalked.

Her crime? Wanting to play basketball at South Florida while being true to her religion:

Islam.

“I swear, I’ll send my degree back to USF if they cave on this. But then, she’d need to shave her beard and moustache off.”

That was one of the many chat-room e-mails sent to Armstrong. She is one of the first American athletes in the post Sept. 11 era who wants to practice Islam in public. Judging by the reaction, Muslims aren’t the only ones who should be worried.

Commentary: The enemy is not on the court
The Register-Guard
Eugene, Oregon
Friday, September 24, 2004

Passengers on a Moscow-Hurghada flight refused to fly to Egypt until a woman dressed in a hijab, traditional Muslim dress, was taken off the plane.

Several minutes before take-off a group of five people, including a woman dressed in a hijab, boarded the Tu-154 passenger jet belonging to Krasnoyarsk Airlines, the NTV television network reported on Thursday morning. The five were reportedly students from the southern Russian republic of Dagestan that neighbors Chechnya.

The plane took off only after the group of passengers was put on another flight.

Russian Tourists Refuse to Fly to Egypt With Muslim Woman
MosNews
Moscow, Russia
Thursday, September 23, 2004

Russians, still in shock at the Beslan tragedy, have reacted angrily to a music producerÕs plans for what he calls a Òterror concertÓ, with a female singer dressed as a suicide bomber on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The singer, called n.A.T.o. in a spin-off of the Òlesbian schoolgirlÓ t.A.T.u. duo that took the West by storm, wears a long black dress, a veil, and sings in Arabic. Producer Ivan Shapovalov, who launched both groups, does not deny that the resemblance to a suicide bomber is intentional.

Tickets to SaturdayÕs show have also been made to look like plane tickets.

ÒShapovalov is exploiting the topical theme of terrorism … The tragedy in Beslan did little to stop his creative drive,Ó the Izvestia daily wrote.

Shapovalov, meanwhile, does not rule out that there may be problems holding the concert. ÒBecause everyoneÕs so scaredÉI feel some doubts on their part,Ó he told MosNews, speaking of the organizers.

The concert will feature the latest news footage from the Middle East, and references to al Qaeda and Iraq.

TATU Producer Angers Russia With Suicide Bomber Singer
MosNews
Moscow, Russia
Thursday, September 9, 2004

How far do we have to take this absurdity?

From Boing Boing:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A London-to-Washington flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday when it was discovered passenger Yusuf Islam – formerly known as singer Cat Stevens – was on a government watch list and barred from entering the country, federal officials said.

United Airlines Flight 919 was en route to Dulles International Airport when the match was made between a passenger and a name on the watch list, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration. The plane was met by federal agents at Maine’s Bangor International Airport around 3 p.m., Melendez said.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy identified the passenger as Islam. “He was interviewed and denied admission to the United States on national security grounds,” Murphy said, and would be put on the first available flight out of the country Wednesday.

[The Associated Press ; by Leslie Miller ; Sept. 21 2004 11:21 pm EDT]

SAMOHI Band Teacher Charged with Sexual Misconduct with Minor

Ed: I was in the band from August 1995 to June 1997 and from August 1998 to June 2000. As far as everyone I knew was concerned, Dr. Carl Hammer was something of a no-nonsense teacher, but overall was a good trombone player and cared deeply about the marching band. I’m really shocked.

Surf Santa Monica ; August 18 2004

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

August 17 — For the second time in two months, a Santa Monica High School employee has been charged with alleged sexual contact with a teenager.

Carl Stephen Hammer — a 37-year-old SAMOHI band teacher who has worked at high schools and middle schools in the district for nearly nine years — turned himself in to authorities August 6 and was charged with two felony counts of allegedly performing “lewd and lascivious” sex acts with a minor, police said.

Hammer — a Santa Monica resident who is married with children — posted $40,000 bail and will remain free while he awaits his next court appearance, scheduled for October 8, police said.

The charges — which come in the wake of a months-long joint-investigation between local police and the California Department of Children and Family Services — apparently stem from a July 6 encounter with a 14-year-old girl, according to police officials.

Information on whether the student is enrolled in the district has not been released..

The school district placed Hammer on paid leave indefinitely, per his contract, said John Deasy.

�He is on paid leave until the matter is investigated and resolved,� Deasy said.

A support team comprised of counselors and psychologists will meet with SAMOHI band students Monday, Deasy said. Meetings will also be held with parents and teachers.

�When students realize there is misbehavior, they share it with students,� Deasy said.

This is the second time in two months a SAMOHI employee has been rocked by sexual misconduct allegations.

Mike Hearn, 37, a part-time assistant football and basketball coach, was arrested in June and charged with sexual relations with two girls — a 15-year old and a 17-year-old — as well as sharing pornographic materials with another 15-year-old, according to prosecutors.

The two younger girls were both students at SAMOHI.

Hearn — who is no longer employed with the district — pleaded not guilty to the nine felony counts last month and is under house arrest until his next court appearance on August 30.

Anyone having additional information should call Leslie Trapnell of the Youth Services Division at 458-2256 or Sgt. Mohamed Marhaba at 458-8457 or the watch commander at 458-8426.

Callers who wish to remain anonymous may also call the We-Tip national hotline at 800-78CRIME.

Why is this a news story?

Jenna Bush Sticks Tongue Out at News Photographers

The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 20, 2004; 10:28 PM

When first lady Laura Bush counseled her twin daughters on how to behave while campaigning with their father, she may have skipped the part about not sticking your tongue out at the media.

That’s what Jenna Bush did Tuesday after President Bush arrived at St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport.

Jenna and sister Barbara, traveling together for the first time with their father, had traded Air Force One for the waiting presidential limousine as Bush talked to a group of people at the bottom of the plane’s staircase.

After Bush got in the back seat beside Jenna, the 22-year-old graduate of the University of Texas at Austin started smiling through the window at about 10 to 12 news photographers and radio reporters stationed on a platform.

Then she stuck her tongue out and began to laugh.

As everyone on the platform started to laugh and snap photographs, Jenna Bush looked at them for a few more seconds, smiling and laughing.

The Bush twins recently joined their dad on the stump for his last political campaign.

Last week, Laura Bush told a television interviewer that she was delighted by her daughters’ decision to campaign for the president and said she told them to “stand up straight and keep your hair out of your eyes.”

The Search is Over

For all of you who were searching for Bobby Fischer, call off your search party:

While incognito, Fischer intermittently gave interviews with a radio station in the Philippines, often digressing into anti-Jewish rants and accusing American officials of hounding him.

In the radio interviews, he praised the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying America should be “wiped out,” and described Jews as “thieving, lying bastards.” His mother was Jewish.

He also announced that he had abandoned chess in 1996 and launched a new version in Argentina, “Fischerandom,” a computerized shuffler that randomly distributes chess pieces on the back row of the chess board at the start of each game. Fischer claimed it would bring the fun back into the game and rid it of cheats.

What can you say to this?

Right Hook, Salon.com
May 19, 2004

The sentiments speak for themselves, but what is perhaps most disturbing is their reach. “Savage Nation’s” syndicated radio host Michael Savage, already infamous for telling a gay caller to “get AIDS and die” (MSNBC fired him for that), boasts 6 million American listeners per week, according to the nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters.org. On May 11, while repeatedly calling Abu Ghraib “Grab-an-Arab” prison, he launched into this little tirade:

“I think there should be no mercy shown to these sub-humans. I believe that a thousand of them should be killed tomorrow. I think a thousand of them held in the Iraqi prison should be given 24 hour[s] — a trial and executed. I think they need to be shown that we are not going to roll over to them … Instead of putting joysticks, I would have liked to have seen dynamite put in their orifices and they should be dropped from airplanes … They should put dynamite in their behinds and drop them from 35,000 feet, the whole pack of scum out of that jail.”

The next day Savage added that Arabs were “racist, fascist bigots,” and purported to speak for a majority of Americans regarding the war. He offered several all-American solutions to our problems in the Middle East.

“Right now, even people sitting on the fence would like George Bush to drop a nuclear weapon on an Arab country. They don’t even care which one it would be. I can guarantee you — I don’t need to go to Mr. Schmuck [pollster John] Zogby and ask him his opinion … The most — I tell you right now — the largest percentage of Americans would like to see a nuclear weapon dropped on a major Arab capital. They don’t even care which one…

“I think these people need to be forcibly converted to Christianity … It’s the only thing that can probably turn them into human beings.”

He also made sure to plug his credentials.

“I’m going to give you one further example from my background as an anthropologist just so that you — I’m trying to put context on this because you can go crazy if you don’t have the context on this, because I’m going to lead up to something of what we must do to these primitives. Because these primitives can only be treated in one way, and I don’t think smallpox and a blanket is good enough incidentally … Smallpox in a blanket, which the U.S. Army gave to the Cherokee Indians on their long march to the West, was nothing compared to what I’d like to see done to these people.”

Absolutely Nothing

[Via Dan Gillmor]

No joke.

You are bidding on an auction who’s sole purpose is to offer nothing. Bidders will recieve absolutely nothing upon winning this auction, save the usual emails alerting them that they have won and instructions for payment. Despite this auction being for nothing, winning bidders are still expected to pay. Buyers who do not submit payment in a timely fashion will get negative feedback. It is requested that winning bidders submit payment along with an email explanation for actually bidding money on nothing. Happy Bidding.

Current bid: $11.50

And the dumb false syllogism of the year goes to:

“In San Francisco, it is license for marriage of same sex. Maybe the next thing is another city that hands out licenses for assault weapons and someone else hands out licenses for selling drugs, I mean you can’t do that,” [Gov.] Schwarzenegger said Sunday on NBC.

As quoted in the LA Times today.