Saudi women defy driving ban across country

Saudi activists are calling the campaign the most successful in years, despite threats [AFP]

Bravo to the dozens of women in Saudi Arabia who today took the wheel and defied the ban on women driving in that country. It's a sign of how backward Saudi Arabia is that 1400 years ago no one had a problem with the Prophet Muhammad's wife, Khadija, driving camels, but fundamentalist clerics today refuse to let women drive cars--which in my experience are rather easier to drive than camels. -Nicholas Kristof

Saudi women defy driving ban across country

www.aljazeera.com

Dozens of women across country participate in "drive-in" campaign, despite threats and warnings from government.

No Woman, No Drive

Saudi women have only been recently granted the right to ride bicycles. “Women are now allowed to drive bicycles in Saudi. “Not Forbidden” reads caption on caricature by one of AUK's best former students @MohammadRSharaf

Check out the link below for awesome video:

No Woman, No Drive

www.youtube.com

Download directly from us: http://ldr.fm/tX6XP Download from iTunes: https://itun.es/i6F668z Follow: Hisham Fageeh: http://Twitter.com/HishamFageeh Fahad Alb...

Kuwait's 'gay-o-meter,' 'women who drive risk damaging their ovaries' and other strange news from the Middle East...

1. 1. Kuwait 'gay-o-meter'? Clinical screenings to 'detect' and ban - RT.com

      1. rt.com/news/homosexuals-kuwait-banned-gays-887/‎

         Oct 8, 2013 - Routine clinical screenings may be used to 'detect' homosexuals and bar them from entering Kuwait and other Gulf member states, according ...

      Saudi cleric says women who drive risk damaging their ovaries ...

      1. 1. www.reuters.com/article/.../us-saudi-driving-idUSBRE98S04B20130929‎

            Sep 29, 2013 - RIYADH (Reuters) - A conservative Saudi Arabian cleric has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with ...

            
            

            The above stories are true (as odd as they may seem), but now for a bit of satire:

            
            

      The Pan-Arabia Enquirer - Satire From The Middle East

      1. 1. 1. www.panarabiaenquirer.com/‎

               As the Middle East's premier source of made up news, The Pan-Arabia Enquirer attracts more than 200,000 page views a month. And, according to research, ...

Higher Education's Train to Nowhere

Paul Stoller

Professor of Anthropology, West Chester University; Author, 'The Power of the Between'

There is an alarming disconnect in contemporary higher education. As I have been saying in this space for more than two years, the university-as-corporation threatens to undermine the foundation of a world-class system of education and diminish the quality of our future social life.

One of the ramifications of university corporatization has been an increasing disregard for the intellectual dimensions of the professorial life. In the name of technological efficiency an increasingly bloated cadre of university technocrats flood our in-boxes with mindless minutia. These institutional requirements -- assessment outcomes, mission statements, five year plans, and so on -- have become so burdensome that there is precious little time for intellectual pursuit. During the academic year it is difficult to find the "leisure" to read current research reports, prepare grant proposals, design new courses, refine lectures, or write an article or a book? In the current environment of institutional reviews and performance assessments, who has time to think?

Read the rest of the article by clicking HERE

Muslims who saved Jews in WWII?

Si Kaddour Benghabrit was the first Imam and leader of the Grand Mosque of Paris which was built from 1922-1926. He was honoured for saving 100 Jews during the Holocaust in WWII. 

These are the stories of Muslims who saved Jews.:http://www.missingpages.co.uk/ww2.php

This regulation never should have been cut and helped engender the recent financial crisis. If we don't want it to happen again, we must bring it back!

Elizabeth Warren introduced a new Glass-Steagall bill to stop Wall Street banks from gambling with the life savings of regular families. It will also help prevent future bailouts. For more, click the link below:

PETITION TO CONGRESS: Pass Elizabeth Warren's Glass-Steagall Bill

Florida mom gets 20 years for firing warning shots? He KILLS an unarmed teenager and is found innocent?

She gets 20 years for firing warning shots? He KILLS an unarmed teenager and is found innocent?

24th anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre

This file photo taken 24 years ago shows some of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese gathering around a 10-meter replica of the Statue of Liberty (center), called the Goddess of Democracy, in Tiananmen Square demanding democracy despite martial law in Beijing. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of protesters were killed by China's military on June 3 and 4, 1989, as communist leaders ordered an end to six weeks of unprecedented democracy protests in the heart of the Chinese capital. (CATHERINE HENRIETTE/AFP/Getty Images)

Great photos of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests (but also of the horrible massacre that ended it)!

Censored in China: 'Today,' 'Tonight' and 'Big Yellow Duck' By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW The words’ today,’ ‘tonight’ and ‘big yellow duck’ are all banned on China’s popular Weibo, or microblog, as the state tries to ensure political calm on June 4, the 24th anniversary of the crushing of the 1989 democracy protests. some of my earlier posts on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and democracy protests:  I write to you from a far-off country...: remembering Tiananmen... Jun 04, 2009 June 4, 1989 ...I was 21 and just coming into my own ...just moving out of my parents' home, just taking on my own ideas about politics, religion, war, life, love and everything... since I was young, every time I had uttered even ... http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ previously unseen photos of Tiananmen Square Massacre Jun 06, 2009 Previously unseen pictures obtained by the Guardian show how the violence centred on Tiananmen Square played out in surrounding areas... Posted by William Andersen at 4:58 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to ... http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ meeting a former soldier that fired shoots in Tiananmen... Jun 04, 2009 meeting a former soldier that fired shoots in Tiananmen... ...very strange that I met this artist, Chen Guang, in the summer of 2007 at an art exhibit of the most shocking art that I've ever seen... I had a very difficult time with his art ... http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ I write to you from a far-off country...: China 22 years later... Jun 04, 2011 China's 22nd anniversary of Tiananmen Square | Video | Reuters.com. Twenty-two years after China's infamous Tiananmen Square crackdown, not much progress on political dissidents. http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ remembering "Tank Man"... - I write to you from a far-off country... Jun 06, 2009 Mike Licht said... Tank Man lives. New versions of this iconic image are all over the Web. Here, for example: http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/20th-anniversary-of-tiananmen-square/. June 5, 2009 at 4:57 PM ... http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ I write to you from a far-off country...: Ai Weiwei and the Artist's Role ... Apr 12, 2011 Ai Weiwei and the Artist's Role in China. Ai Weiwei in Tiananmen Square in 2009 (the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre). Ai Weiwei and the Artist's Role in China - Room for Debate ... 12 Apr 2011 . http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ I write to you from a far-off country...: More Deaths and Anti-Chinese ... Feb 10, 2012 -Tibet Post International. Hong Kong Residents to Hold Vigil Marking Tiananmen...‎ - Bloomberg. Tiananmen Square Anniversary: 22 Years Later - Huffington Post. Tiananmen legacy: Crush any hint of dissent‎ - Vancouver . http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ Any interest in a counter exhibit/lecture series to Milwaukee's May 21, 2011 Ai Weiwei in Tiananmen Square in 2009 on the 20th anniversary of the massacre. Dear friends, Have you seen Mary Louise Schumacher's article: Should the Milwaukee Art Museum protest Ai Weiwei's detention? - Art City ... http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ Chinese Artist Who Led Protest Has Been Jailed, His Wife Says Jul 09, 2010 In February, those artists joined forces with artists from another Beijing neighborhood to march down Chang'an Jie, a wide ceremonial avenue that runs past the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Chinese leaders are ... http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/ I write to you from a far-off country...: artist against the state... Nov 28, 2009 But after 1989, and the silencing of protesters at Tiananmen Square, he had decided that “the world became different.” And so he returned to China in 1993, reckoning that one day he might face something like his father's fate. http://williamjandersen.blogspot.com/

U.S. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Return War Medals at NATO Summit

Peace and Love to All on Memorial Day...

Memorial Day Special: U.S. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Return War Medals at NATO Summit

www.democracynow.org

Democracy Now! returns to Chicago, site of the largest NATO summit in the organization’s six-decade history, where nearly 50 veterans discarded their war medals by hurling them down the street in the direction of the NATO summit. We hear the soldiers’ voices as they return their medals one by one fr...

If You Are Considering a Teaching Position in Wisconsin...

If You Are Considering a Teaching Position in Walker's Wisconsin, Please Be Aware:

•You Will Be a Probationary Teacher Forever. Walker's Wisconsin is the only state in America where all teachers have lost tenure or career status.

•At the Same Time that Governor Walker Has Made Billions of Dollars in Cuts to Public Education ( the Deepest Cuts in Wisconsin's History), Governor Walker Has Proposed Increasing Aid To Unaccountable Voucher Schools By 32 %. No state in America has made more severe cuts to public education than Wisconsin.

•Governor Walker Specifically Targeted Teachers With a Rule Change Forever Limiting Teacher Raises Well Below the Inflation Rate.

•In Walker's Wisconsin, Many School Districts Are Reducing Salaries, Eliminating Benefits, and Increasing Teacher Workload: Use the information on the District pages to find out which school districts are aggressively repealing the gains teachers made over 40 years of collective bargaining by enacting regressive employment rules requiring extended teacher workdays, 60+ hour workweeks, required weekend work, adding weeks of teaching or inservice training to the contracted year, eliminating preparation time, taking away sick days, eliminating retirement benefits, and making severe reductions in salaries and benefits.
•Governor Walker & his Republican Allies have repealed Equal Pay for Equal Work laws in Wisconsin. This opens the door to paying male teachers significantly more than female teachers as was common in Wisconsin prior to the 1970's.
•Before You Sign a Contract, Find Out the Amount of the Contract Breakage Fee. Many school districts have imposed massive contract breakage fees (often $3,000+) to limit teachers' ability to leave for a better employment opportunity. A good rule of thumb for job candidates: The most demanding, even abusive districts to work for often have the highest contract breakage fees. Once you sign that first contract, they HAVE you and are going to do everything possible to keep you from leaving for a better career opportunity.


http://networkedblogs.com/LxoU6

WHERE IS THE PANCHEN LAMA?

The present (11th) incarnation of the Panchen Lama is a matter of controversy: the People's Republic of China asserts it is Gyancain Norbu, while the 14th Dalai Lama asserted it was Gedhun Choekyi Nyima on May 14, 1995. The latter vanished from public eye shortly after being named, aged six. Chinese authorities stated that Gedhun had been taken into protective custody from those that would spirit him into exile. However, most believe he is now held in captivity against the wishes of the Tibetan people. Tibetans and human rights groups continue to campaign for his release. 

Today:

The Panchen Lamas 24th birthday.

WHERE IS THE PANCHEN LAMA?

What you can do today:

1, share this post
2. use the picture as profile pic

3. CALL THE CHINESE EMBASSY IN YOUR COUNTRY

yes, a bit of an effort, finding phone numbers, but please MAKE that effort..we need to speak up for what we believe in, not just *like* pictures and photos..

Please
take action today.

Even one call.....

Bipartisan report says tops US officials to blame for 'cruel and inhuman' treatment of detainees

The first shipment of 20 prisoners arrived at Guantánamo on January 11, 2002 [GALLO/GETTY]

Bipartisan report says tops officials to blame for 'cruel and inhuman' treatment of detainees. A new report looking into the torture of detainees in the US after September 11, 2001 attack has said intelligence officers and military forces practiced torture. The US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay is the symbol of everything the country has done wrong since the September 11 attacks, according to a bipartisan group of former officials and academics. The group, which reviewed US detention and rendition practices, has concluded that US interrogators committed torture while questioning detainees, and there is no proof the torture gave authorities any information to prevent future attacks. Seasoned interrogators have confirmed the report finding that harsh interrogation techniques were ineffective and there was no rational for their use, whether practical or moral. | Watch Rosiland Jordan's report from Capitol Hill here:http://aje.me/15kT7Oc

Video: 'US tortured detainees' after 9/11 attack

aje.me

Bipartisan report says tops officials to blame for 'cruel and inhuman' treatment of detainees.

Wisconsin mine to be sold to a Chinese-owned corporation?

My 2008 artwork "Wisconsin China Made" guerrilla installed in Milwaukee
 and exhibited in the show Seeing Green.

"... we now find out about this obscure provision that could allow the mine to be sold to a Chinese-owned corporation. ... people have a right to know who is behind this, who stands to benefit and why this provision is buried in the budget rather than being debated on its own merits.” 

Public Deserves Answers to Questions Surrounding Mysterious Budget Provision to Benefit Foreign Countries

Example of my 2005 artwork critiquing the sale of Milwaukee Electric Tools to a China-based corporation.  This work was shown in multiple exhibits including the Wisconsin Triennial.

Kuwait detains Twitter users for insulting emir

Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah

Kuwait's public prosecution on Sunday ordered the detention of four Twitter users for 10 days for allegedly insulting the ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state, a rights group said.

The four were arrested on Wednesday and remanded in police custody pending further investigation before the prosecution issued its detention order, Kuwait Human Rights News Centre said on its Twitter account.

Three other Twitter users, including a woman, who were arrested with them were each freed on bail of $3,550.

The seven, described as opposition sympathisers, were interrogated on allegations of tweets deemed offensive and critical of Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

Read more here: Kuwait detains Twitter users for insulting emir

$7.6 million in salary increases for Hostess executives while filing for bankruptcy?

It wasn't the unions. THE EXECUTIVES TOOK EVERYTHING!

"I am a Hostess employee. Hostess stopped our pension contributions a yr & a half ago. Then they gave the top execs pay raises of 30-80%. They offered new contracts: no pension payments (no retirement plan at all for union employees, but company management still gets contributions to their retirement plans) for another 2 & 1/2 yrs, and then a 75% reduction in pension when they do start paying into it again; we have to pay an ADDITIONAL $200/ mo for health insurance; They took away our last cost of living raise; they gave us an 8% wage cut on top of that; they are outsourcing all of the office work to Manilla."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1203151/why-unions-dont-shoulder-the-blame-for-hostesss-downfall/

Kuwaitis pay $1240 to have dinner with Kim Kardashian?

Meanwhile in Kuwait: who has the money to pay $1240 USD for dinner with Kim Kardashian? and why is she important? 

Hostess triples CEO's pay then blames Unions for bankruptcy?

Hostess is blaming the unions for closing their factory doors nationwide, but the simple fact is they were irresoponsible fiscally.

How else do you explain triping the salary of the CEO? But let's keep blaming the workers.

Hostess Blames Union For Bankruptcy After Tripling CEO’s Pay

thinkprogress.org

Today, Hostess Brands inc. — the company famed for its sickly sweet desert snacks like Twinkies and Sno Balls — announced they’d be shuttering after more than eighty years of production. But while headlines have been quick to blame unions for the downfall of the company there’s actually more to the ...

Romney's Storm Tips

different rules for different classes IS class warfare...

Thanks The Progress Party for the share!

Paul Ryan spends 'minutes' volunteering at soup kitchen...

The 'charity' of the GOP ("just came here to get his picture taken," says the head of the charity).

Paul Ryan's staged soup kitchen photo-op... the video:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50133186n

Paul Ryan makes unauthorized stop at soup kitchen

GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan on Saturday stopped at a soup kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio, where he and members of his family washed dishes for several minutes. The head of the charity has since come out saying Ryan's visit violated the organization's apolitical status, and that Ryan "just came in here to get his picture taken."