my world is round

What is WRONG with these people?

A Saudi woman is gang-raped. The rapists receive punishment, but the victim receives punishment, too -- for being outside her home without a male relative. When her attorney argues that the rapists need harsher sentences, the victim's punishment is increased. How does this happen??

From a CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/17/saudi.rape.victim/index.html

(CNN) -- A court in Saudi Arabia increased the punishment for a gang-rape victim after her lawyer won an appeal of the sentence for the rapists, the lawyer told CNN.

The 19-year-old victim was sentenced last year to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male, a former friend from whom she was retrieving photographs. The seven rapists, who abducted the pair and raped both, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.

The victim's attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, contested the rapists' sentence, contending there is a fatwa, or edict under Islamic law, that considers such crimes Hiraba (sinful violent crime) and the punishment should be death.

"After a year, the preliminary court changed the punishment and made it two to nine years for the defendants," al-Lahim said of the new decision handed down Wednesday. "However, we were shocked that they also changed the victim's sentence to be six months in prison and 200 lashes."

The judges more than doubled the punishment for the victim because of "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media," according to a source quoted by Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper.

Bias that defeats the cause

The janitors in Houston are currently on strike. From what I can tell, the issues at stake are:

1. They want more money
2. They want more hours
3. They want health insurance

These are fair requests. We all want more money. And if you are only working part-time (most of our janitors are working only 20 hours per week -- 7pm-11pm Sunday thru Thursday), you want more hours because it means -- more money.

The problem with this request is the amount of work to be done. If you can clean the office building in four hours each night, do I just give you eight hours instead? You can work from 7pm until 3am assuming I cut my workforce in half. Look at the janitor standing next to you holding the sign. Who goes? You or him?

Working forty hours a week also might qualify you for health insurance -- if your employer provides it and if you can afford it. Again, we all want good quality health insurance at a reasonable price. But that's a whole 'nuther post.

The most aggregious comment to me is this. We make an average of $5.30 per hour, half of what janitors make in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Hel-lo?? Are we really that stupid? Don't even try to compare your Houston salary as apples to apples when talking about Chicago and Los Angeles. Half the people in Houston couldn't afford to live in those cities based on their current salary. Check any online cost-of-living calculator and see for yourself!

When someone takes their position to an unreasonable extreme, they lose their credibility. The sensationalism of it turns their valid points to ridiculous rants.

This is where I stop listening -- and more importantly -- stop caring. 

To scarf or not to scarf

It's been a while but let's talk.

The latest controversy over women's fashion lately is the question of the head scarves worn by many Muslim women. Note I said many, not all. Why? Because it is a matter of religious preference and sometimes just plain fashion sense. Not uncommon from what is commonly considered the biggest enemy -- the Jewish -- and their custom of the yarmulkes. According to religious custom, you wear it at certain times but some choose to wear it all the time.

I think the fact that there are several different styles of coverings also sends the message that the choice to wear a head scarf is more to a personal fashion taste than a religious one. (Houston Chronicle article from today on the veil debate) I realize that in some Muslim countries women have to dress in certain attire. However, as Muslims live, work and play in western countries, the choice is theirs.

And the results are too.

A young man can choose to wear a mohawk and pierce his face multiple times. It is his choice. It is also the choice of society to reject this man's opinion on matters of importance or to deny his request for employment. Based on nothing other than his attire. This is not discrimination. This is as much a freedom of the potential employer as it is of the applicant.

My opinion is this. If you live in a country where the laws allow you to dress according to your personal preferences, wear what you want. I do not see a terrorist in every woman who chooses to wear a head scarf. I see it as a fashion choice. But don't come crying to me if you face adverse reactions from others. This was your choice.