I am a liberal's worst nightmare: a conservative, gay, transgender woman who believes in free speech, free markets and free thought. I believe that we are in a war against barbarian forces that mean to destroy the whole of Western Civilization and I mean for this blog to be one more wall against these ravening hordes.
WITH a smile and a raised middle finger, gang rape victim Tegan Wagner yesterday stared down her attackers and uttered the words she has been waiting four long years to say.
"See ya, guys. Have a nice life. Enjoy prison."
As they were ushered out of the NSW Supreme Court to the cells below, rapist brothers MSK and MAK returned Ms Wager's greeting with an uncomfortable grin of their own.
MSK also mouthed the words, "I'm sorry", but was met with a curt, "F--- you mate, go to hell" from his 18-year-old victim.
For Ms Wagner, her gesture brought as much closure as the jail sentences just passed, which will keep her main attacker behind bars until 2024. ...
Ms Wagner was just 14 when she was raped by the Pakistani brothers after being plied with alcohol at their Ashfield home in June 2002. She had gone there with friends who knew the pair, but she had never met them before that night.
MSK, 27, and MAK, 26, are currently serving long sentences for the rapes of two other girls.
Yesterday, Justice Peter Hidden extended their time behind bars for their attacks on Ms Wagner and, in the case of MSK, the rape of a 13-year-old girl a month later.
Justice Hidden yesterday rejected claims by MSK that the rapes occurred because of his cultural background.
In evidence to the court, MSK claimed women were perceived differently in the small, fiercely Muslim Pakistan village where he grew up and that Australian women were considered morally loose.
"The effect of his evidence was, he saw both victims as promiscuous and believed they had no right to repel his sexual advances," the judge said.
"(But) he must have had sufficient exposure to the Australian way of life to be aware the place occupied by women in the traditional culture of his area of origin is far removed from our social norms.
"He can have been in no doubt that to treat those two young women in the manner he did was utterly unacceptable."
A Muslim rape epidemic in sweeping over Europe -- and over many other nations host to immigrants from the Islamic world. The direct connection between the rapes and Islam is irrefutable, as Muslims are significantly overrepresented among convicted rapists and rape suspects. The Muslim perpetrators themselves boast that their crime is justified since their victims were, among other things, not properly veiled.
What is the psychology here? What is the significance of this epidemic? And how do we face it when our own feminists, with a few exceptions, are deafingly silent about it?
Members of the Duke University Lacrosse team may have abused a black party girl, but, without any proof or trial, the Duke Lacrosse team was punished by the university, suspended from further games.
Peter Raddaz let’s begin with you.
A man sees a woman and she is not veiled. He thinks to himself: “Oh, I must rape her now.”
No matter how much I try to figure this out, I can’t. What’s the mindset here? If a person is upset that a woman is not veiled, it implies he wants some kind of supposed “morality.” But if he is thirsting for purity, how does perpetrating a violent sexual atrocity against the “immoral” one fit into moralizing her and the rest of society – and himself?
Raddatz: Your questions concerning mindset and morals put us right into the middle of the problem. They are the terms any culture's collective psychology is basing on. In the case of prevailing orthodox Islam we are faced with a deep division between the sexes. With Allah's unlimited ruling license the males are entitled to be the masters of the females. The Koranic order says that the man has to "go to the woman" whenever he likes, to "enjoy her however he likes", and to discipline her in case she develops her own ideas like sexual self-determination.
The reports say the woman is a divorced, 27-year-old “mother” of two, attending North Carolina Central University. She is not a person of note, and is said to do exotic dancing as a side job to pick up extra cash.
FP: Thank you Dr. Raddatz. Dr. Eussner?
Eussner: Thank you, Jamie. I agree with Peter: The survival and expansion of Islam worldwide is the main goal of Islam since its invention by Mohammed. In this respect, the history of Islamic conquest is self-explanatory. The other aspect is the lack of appreciation for the individual as such. For both, men and women, it is true, that there are no individual rights, but for women it is even worse.
It may sound harsh, but the distinction between "fertilizing" and "punishing" a woman is evident. On the one hand you have sexuality as a tool serving the expansion of Islam, and on the other hand there is sexuality as a weapon against disobedient and non-Muslim women, both categorized as "unbelievers". Against them jihad is the duty, and what to do with women "conquered" in jihad, this may be read in the Qur'an: they become slaves to be used by the victors.
If a rape occurred, it is inexcusable, regardless of the race of the victim or perpetrators. However, all the indications raise serious questions about this situation – and the racial hyperventilating makes the case even muddier.
So, that black woman said, “No,” eh? First, she’s in a profession where she’s expected to do tricks for clients.
FP: Thank you Dr. Eussner. Mr. Rehov, your turn.
Rehov: There are very few observations that I can add to Dr Eussner’s and Dr Raddatz’s surveys on both the cultural and religious seeds of the phenomenon, although there is a personal dimension that I would like to explore.
Of course, in a cultural environment where women are undermined, not to say considered as second rate citizens or even dangerous to the dominant male, the temptation to rape as a result to “ provocation “ is great. Female “provocation” in the Muslim society is usually a definition for the mildest behavior. Smiling, singing, talking, being alone for one minute in the same room as the rapist, having answered a question in an inappropriate way, wearing clothes which are not strictly in obedience with what is locally considered as the Muslim rules, all of these innocent behaviors are seen as a misconduct authorizing “revenge.”
The woman went there to "turn'em on." That's what she's getting paid for. That she would three times RETURN, when she had every reason to fear, shows excessively poor judgement on her part. She was literally asking for it, for whatever happened anyway.
Once again, Log Cabin fails by trying to go through the courts. When they should instead focus on trying to win the hearts and minds of their fellow Republicans. But, it seems too much to ask Patrick to pull himself away from the gay political cocktail parties in D.C. and go to less fabulous, but more important, Republican gatherings. More important, that is, if Log Cabin really wants to influence the GOP.
-Bruce and Dan
Do "democratic institutions" include things like a civic commitment to equal treatment of the sexes, protections for minorities against dictatorship by the majority, and a safe civil society for dissent? It seems to me that these freedoms may be more essential than mere Democracy - and may be preconditions for a successful liberal democracy. Women in Iraq and Afghanistan have the vote (in theory), but in many areas can't walk the streets with bare faces without fear of violent reprisal; freedom to vote doesn't guarantee freedom in any substantive sense. Democracy is one element of freedom, but it's not the only element, and maybe not even the most essential element. ...
A country that doesn't adopt the values of liberal democracy can never be called democratic even if it held 365 elections in a year.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Four additional Congressional lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of legislation to repeal the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service personnel in recent days.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the group advocating for gays in the military, see that as a sign Congressional opposition to lifting the ban is eroding.
Republican Sherwood Boehlert of New York and Democrats Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, Julia Carson of Indiana and Michael Doyle of Pennsylvania have joined 110 others in Congress in calling for repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Boehlert is the fifth Republican co-sponsor and McKinney joins nine other members of the House Armed Services Committee who are also co-sponsors of the bill (H.R. 1059). In all, 114 Members of Congress now support the legislation, introduced in March 2005 by Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass. ...