Tuesday Reads
Posted: February 8, 2011 Filed under: Barack Obama, Egypt, Foreign Affairs, Middle East, morning reads, Patriot Act, U.S. Politics, Violence against women, Women's Rights | Tags: Buzz Bissinger, dangerous work, football, Henna Begum, murder, New England, Patriot Act reauthorization bill, plains states, public flogging, rape, snow, violence, violent sports, weather 73 Comments
Good Morning! It looks like New England will dodge a bullet this week. There was talk of another storm on Wednesday, but now we are only expecting 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow. That is manageable and won’t prevent me from getting to work on Wednesday, thank goodness. But the lower plains states are going to get more snow later this week, I hear. That storm isn’t headed my way though. What a relief!
Still, The Boston Globe reports that roofs are still collapsing around New England.
Problems with roofs overloaded by heavy layers of snow continued today around the region, as public safety officials raced to sagging or collapsed structures reported in Boston, Bellingham, Littleton, Dedham, and Norwood. Meanwhile, a relatively small storm for this unusually snowy season was expected to dump up to 3 inches on some areas of the state.
A roof collapse was reported at 1:45 p.m. at the Unity Tabernacle of Holiness Church, a storefront church at 2 Greendale Road in Mattapan, the Boston Fire Department said. Firefighters found the roof had partially collapsed. No one was in the building at the time; no one was injured, and a building inspector was summoned to examine the scene, the department said in an official tweet.
In Bellingham, the corrugated metal roof of the Popular Precast Products building at 26 North Main St. collapsed this morning from the heavy snow, and one wall caved in; the entire building will have to be demolished, Building Inspector Stuart LeClaire said.
The owner had been inside just before the collapse, but heard the walls cracking and made it out in time, LeClaire said.
That’s just the beginning of a long list. I hope my back porch roof holds up. It already leaks. I can’t get out in the back yard to pull the snow down, because there are several feet of snow on the ground.
The Washington Post has a report on President Obama’s speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce {gag}.
“We can, and we must, work together,” Obama told an audience at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, his most overt effort yet to mend ties with the nation’s business community. “Whatever differences we may have, I know that all of us share a deep, abiding belief in this country, a belief in our people, a belief in the principles that have made America’s economy the envy of the world.”
His administration will “help lay the foundation for you to grow and innovate,” Obama said, vowing new investment in infrastructure and education and a focus on removing “barriers that make it harder for you to compete – from the tax code to the regulatory system.”
But even as he vowed to push hard on initiatives ranging from trade deals to corporate tax reform, Obama challenged business leaders to ramp up their hiring, bring jobs back from overseas and quit sitting on such large stockpiles of cash.
Bla, bla, bla. He might as well be talking to a brick wall. What a loser.
NPR’s Talk of the Nation had an interesting segment on football today. The guest was Buzz Bissinger of The Daily Beast, who wrote a post explaining why football is inherently violent. He argues that there is no way to take the violence out of the game–then it would no longer be football. If we’re really concerned about the concussions, arthritis, and other serious side effects, we should ban football entirely. Bissinger:
Violence is not only embedded in football; it is the very celebration of it. It is why we like it. Take it away, continue efforts to curtail the savagery, and the game will be nothing, regardless of age or skill.
Much has been reported, especially by The New York Times, about the potential dangers of head injuries in the game. I know the reporter who has done virtually all the stories, Alan Schwarz, and to say he is assiduous is ridiculous understatement. His work has truly been exemplary. But after what seems like a million stories, it may be time for the Times to move on. The overall point has been hammered to bits.
The game doesn’t simply cause injury. It is injury. It is an occupational hazard that, yes, can turn into tragedy. The inherent danger can never be strained out, except at the margins. Nor should it be.
I have to agree. I admit that I like watching football, but I wouldn’t be heartbroken if it were banned. But that will never happen, at least at the professional level. But when I was listening to the discussion on NPR, it occurred me that there is never this kind of concern about on-the-job injuries and hazards in blue-color work.
No one suggests that coal mining should be banned because the work cuts miners’ lives short. Construction workers take risks too, and so do people in many other jobs. I worked as a secretary for years, and I now have terrible arthritis in my hands and fingers. I’m sure typing for so many years contributed to that.
It’s just another example of the ways in which some people seen as more important than others. If someone chooses to play football–or baseball or basketball–they should know the risks and possible consequences. But there is risk in everything in life. There is no way to remove all risk. That kind of thinking about terrorism is what got us where we are now–broke and with very few rights left.
Congress is about to pull a fast one, by voting to reauthorize the Patriot Act in the House today. From the EFF
Tell your Congressperson to vote NO on the USA PATRIOT Act in tomorrow’s vote! The PATRIOT reauthorization bill being fast-tracked to the House floor contains NO reforms to the law, and will be voted upon with NO debate and NO opportunity for amendments to add oversight and accountability. Help stop this sneak attack on your civil liberties: there are only hours left to visit our Action Center and tell your Representative to vote “NO” on H.R. 514, the PATRIOT extension bill.
In late 2009, when PATRIOT reauthorization was originally being considered by Congress, many important PATRIOT reform measures were proposed and debated, and a bill filled with powerful new checks and balances was reported favorably out of the House Judiciary Committee. But, as Congress ran up against the renewal deadline, it decided that there was not enough time to fully consider those reforms. So, in February 2010, Congress instead extended the “sunsetting” sections of the law until the end of this February, with a promise to fully consider the issues before the next deadline.
But Congress is breaking its promise to consider reforms to the PATRIOT Act. In a legislative sneak attack, the new Republican leadership in the House is trying push Representatives to rubber-stamp another PATRIOT renewal. The House leaders just announced on Friday that they’ll be “suspending the rules” so that a bill introduced by Rep. Sensenbrenner to extend the expiring PATRIOT provisions until December 8, 2011 will go to the House floor for a vote TOMORROW, without any debate and without any opportunity for anyone to offer amendments to improve the bill.
Please call or fax your congressperson.
The following story is shocking and heartbreaking, and concerns rape and cruel death of a young girl; if you don’t think you can handle it, feel free to skip over the section of the post. But I think this is an important story, so I’m going to share it even though it’s hard for me to even think about.
Four people including a Muslim cleric have been arrested in Bangladesh in connection with the death of 14-year-old girl who was publicly lashed.
The teenager was accused of having an affair with a married man, police say, and the punishment was given under Islamic Sharia law.
Henna Begum
An affair? She was 14. He was 40. She was raped, and then she was publicly flogged. BBC News:
The family members of the married man [Henna’s cousin, age 40] also allegedly beat the girl up a day before the village court passed the sentence in the district of Shariatpur.
Hena Begum died after being taken to hospital “Her family members said she was admitted to a hospital after the incident and she died six days later. The village elders also asked the girl’s father to pay a fine of about 50,000 Taka (£430; $700),” district superintendent of police, AKM Shahidur Rahman, told the BBC.
He said it had not been established yet whether she died because of the punishment she received or another reason.
Another reason? WTF?! Universe, give me strength! BTW, these Sharia law punishments have been outlawed in Bangladesh. You’d think the district superintendent could have stopped the beatings and floggings instead of waiting until Henna was dead to “investigate.”
People in Bangladesh are asking the same question:
The High Court yesterday ordered district officials in Shariatpur to explain why they failed to protect 14-year-old rape victim Hena from being whipped to death as per a fatwa on Monday.
The deputy commissioner, the superintendent of police of Shariatpur and the thana nirbahi officer of Naria upazila — where the incident took place–will have to report to the HC in 15 days how it happened although the court (HC) had eight months ago declared fatwa illegal and a punishable offence.
In a suo moto rule, the HC directed them also to report what steps they have taken in this regard.
An HC bench comprised of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain issued the rule following press reports on the killing of Hena.
I’ll end with just a few links on the situation in Egypt.
At the Socialist Worker, there is a statement from “radical Egyptian socialists.”
From the World Socialist Website: Imperialism and Egypt’s “democratic transition”
From Siun at FDL: Concessions Meaningless Say Tahrir Protesters: “We Want a New System”
Slate: UN: 300 Dead in Egyptian Protests
The NYT Lede Blog has “the latest updates” from Egypt
What are you reading and blogging about today?
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
The one thing that frightens me about who will become the governing power in Egypt when it is all said and done, is that it will be a government that adheres to Sharia Law. That story about Henna is horrible. What is more disturbing is that kind of treatment of rape victims is something that happens more than we hear about.
No, I don’t think that is a real concern in Egypt.
I hope you are right.
I agree, BB. Perhaps I’m naive, but all the feminist Epyptian voices that I’ve heard over the 2 weeks and the sight so of many women coming out to protest have given me great faith in the movement there and the potential for a truly benign, women-empowering revolution in Egypt.
Btw, reports are coming in that the largest crowd yet has assembled on Tahrir Square today. I know the post below is dedicated to the situation in Egypt, but perhaps this latest outpouring deserves its own blog post.
Iac, I’m extremely grateful for the exensive coverage of the Egyptian uprising on this blog.
The interesting thing about the Egyptian protesters is they aren’t affair of women (women are hand in hand in the protests) and they aren’t affair of other religions and the Christians feel safe with them and they with them. There is a feeling that they are Egyptian first and that has been very clear and the ultra conservatives know that the young people aren’t filled with hate and insecurities.
In that vein, female genital mutilation was only outlawed in Egypt in 2007. It is still widespread, with a 2008 demographic health survey showing that 72% of girls aged 15-30 were circumcised (the percentage was 91% for women aged 15-49). The situation seems to be improving, but still bears strict observing and monitoring.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88352
How in hell does a 14 yr old girl conduct an “affair” with a 40 yr old man? Come on!
The ignorance and fanaticism of these people is overwhelming.
But on another note, the US congress is entertaining similar actions by denying treatment to rape and incest victims right here on our very own shores. Not to mention attacking Planned Parenthood in its quest to subjugate our own women under some pretext of religious beliefs.
So as much as we decry the treatment of women and girls in other countries we seem to be traveling down the same path of “legalized slavery” without nary a whimper over here.
Pat,
Did you hear that Ed Rendell is getting a divorce?
He’s an idiot. His wife is a total doll and wonderful … but this confirms a feeling I have had that he will now become simply another useless TV “celebrity”. Old guys can’t get young again…but they can marry youth and I guess that will do… the attraction seems to be a type of youth infusion other wise unavailable. imo
I’m so disappointed in Rendell and had no idea of his proclivities, shall we say.
Will he marry “Dr” Snow or end up with a Ukranian mail order bride?
Stay tuned.
Yup, I am disappointed too.
Exactly. So many people buy the same authoritarian crap coming from white suburban Americans simply because they don’t see any flavor of crazy but the foreign ones or ones coming from religions they aren’t attached to simply by being brainwashed in it. The threats to women in this county are coming from suburban white ignorance not some minority.
bb: I did! After 40 yrs of marriage another fool has decided that he has finally met his “soulmate” in some blonde former Miss Pennsylvania!
Wish I could find a “soulmate”. One at least who can still hoist a shovel!
I am so disappointed in Eddy. Nothing says “old fool” like a man of 68 looking for love in all the wrong places.
At least Hugh Hefner at 84 is single.
I think he’s engaged.
Yes he is.
I think he did it just to piss off Holly.
OMG how do I know that.
It’s hard to avoid that kind’ve crap if you channel surf at all. My cable company arranges its channels so all the annoying ones are interspersed with the helpful ones. I’m still irritated that I have to pay big bucks for ESPN which I consider prime passover channels. I keep trying to find ways of blocking Pat Robertson’s channel as porn along with any channel that shows TMZ. No such programming option.
Oh no. I didn’t read the whole story. How disgusting.
Engaged and he isn’t even divorced, is this ever so tacky/John Edwardish.
Terrfic round up, thanks
Another reason? WTF?! Universe, give me strength
Indeed…
Snowing like crazy here; has been since around 2am.
Heart attack snow, they call it.
Sorry! We seemed to have dodged it this time. Anything marginal….human or otherwise, gets stressed to the max by this weather. We had a rough winter last year ( record snow amounts) a rough summer and now another rough winter…there were like two weeks of moderate temps between these 3 seasons
Furnace serviceman arrived an hour ago from the next town and said it’s raining there. “Think you’re the only folks getting snow,” he said.
I don’t mind. It’s pretty and I actually enjoy shoveling, gives me a little workout in fresh air.
From WSWS article :
….Suleiman also helped the US manufacture false evidence to justify its illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. Before that war, he oversaw the transfer of Ibn Sheikh al-Libi from US to Egyptian custody; once in Egypt, al-Libi was tortured until he agreed to say that Iraq was giving chemical and biological weapons to Al Qaeda. This false testimony made its way into US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s 2003 report to the UN, calling for war….
No wonder we love Suleiman. Hell, as far as our imperialistic interests goes.,( and what others do we have there ? ) he’s an improvement even over Mubarak and an even more useful servant.
Let freedom ring!
No wonder we want Mubarak gone.
Those in the square can’t go home as they are told to do…because they will then be disappeared. So they stay and eventually the square itself will be turned into a prision…it already has. The step after that : into Abu Ghraib.
This young rape victim never had a chance……not within her family, not within the police department, and not within her community. This problem grows everyday, and it’s everywhere. It’s hatred, pure and simple.
At least her family are raising hell after the fact. We don’t know what they did beforehand.
I get the feeling her family lived in fear of helping her.
Have you read Half The Sky? It’s a struggle beyond belief.
Hi guys – way OT – you probably thought I fell off the edge of the planet – I’ve been missing in action ‘cuz my hubby is going in for brain surgery next week and we’ve been very much involve, as you can imagine, with all the pre-op stuff.
He suffers from a fairly uncommon ailment similar to Parkinsons – as does our older son – our son had the surgery 2 years ago with an 80% success rate.
My guy has been in a lot of pain and finally decided to have the surgery – if you pray to a higher power – we’d appreciate any good thoughts you can send our way.
Sending them stat!
wow, we have missed you!!! I hope everything turns out well!!! We’ll send some good energy your way
Hi Joanelle,
I hope everything goes well. I will keep you and your family in my thoughts.
You and your family are in my thoughts, Joanelle. Good luck, and stay strong.
Oh Joanelle, I will be thinking about you and your family. I am glad you let us know.
I’ll say a prayer that the surgery goes well joanelle
thank you all for your gentle and positive thoughts for my honey!
Best wishes to you and family.
I’ll be thinking of your husband and you and your family. I know going in for this kind of surgery is very scary. I’m sure the surgery will be successful!
Thanks, paper doll
Coming out of lurkerdom – Sending positive thoughts your way. Thankfully, brain surgery has advanced so much in the last few years, so your husband will be fine, and I hope that it is as successful as it was with your son. Best wishes for a successful surgery and a short recovery period and of course that your husband will be without pain. Take care of yourself too, he will need you at your best.
This is pretty funny:
Write your own Thomas Friedman column!
yes! you too can be the Carrie Bradshaw of MSM op ed!!!
Examples provided for each step that are pretty damned funny.
That is funny.
and this is the guy that our Preznit reads daily for inspiration! How sad is that?
Tom Friedman is the reason I’m planning to grow a moustache. I don’t think he is taken seriously because of his writing (it’s incredibly bad), or his great prediction abilities (FU anyone? How many of those do we have now?)
It must be the mustache, I don’t see any onther explanation.
He’s done a good job of riding his connections’ coattails.
All those fighting sports like boxing are horrible. Boxing is basically designed for brain damage too. It’s sad to see how many poor youth find inspiration in ‘gladiator’ sports. Most of these guys lead short, brutal, and damaged lives.
It’s not just poor youth who go into football though. It’s very difficult to get into the NFL without going to a good college. Baseball and Basketball, OTOH, take kids right out of high school. By the time people go into the NFL, they are adults who can make their own decisions.
I don’t agree with the writer about people only watching football because of the violence, but I agree the only real solution would be to ban football–hockey too. But then you’d also have to ban dangerous working class jobs like coal minining, as I pointed out in the post.
It’s also not “most” who get brain damage and lead “short, brutal lives.”
I agree about boxing. There’s no excuse for it, IMO. The writer also argued that football should be banned in hs and below.
I’d like to see more brain scans, frankly, from collegiate football players. My guess is that boxers would have the worst looking brain scans, but I can’t believe there’s not evidence in football players too depending on their position and degree of aggression.
I think if you could get participation in those sports by minors labeled child abuse because of the physical damage they incur, you’d have a better chance at shutting it all down. As long as they’re over 18, they can play contact sports, under 18, the schools, parents, and organizations get held to account for physically damaging children. There’s plenty of sports to play that don’t involve brain damage, broken bones, and other bodily damage as a feature. It’s really just like breeding race horses or other animals for sport. Parents push their kids into these damaging activities because they see cash cows in the future. For some kids, its a way out of poverty. No parent should be allowed to consent to having their child brutalized.
yes, but the key is to disallow it for children under 18–like smoking, alcohol, etc.
But again, what about coal mining, construction work, and all the other jobs that lead to shorter lives for working class people?
I wouldn’t have a problem with that. If football were completely banned it wouldn’t affect my life. But it won’t happen any more than guns will be banned. Americans love violence.
Yes. It is profitable for many; including universities.
DK, What about roller skating? Would you be in favor of banning roller skating for under 18s? It can be pretty dangerous and bone breaking to go racing around with wheels on your feet.
P.S. Roller skating was my favorite sport as a kid. I was a speed demon at it.
Rolling skating isn’t designed for brain damage and aggression isn’t encouraged.
Coal mining, construction work, and all the other jobs that lead to shorter lives for working class people aren’t designed for brain damage and don’t encourage aggression either.
This article from Slate seems to indicate that there are more brain injuries that go undetected in football than we previously suspected…
http://www.slate.com/id/2281515
Okay, I am going to stir the pot.
My son plays football, and his team won the North Georgia Rec Football Championship in 2008.
I understand the risk involved in allowing him to play this sport. However, he has gotten more injuries from doing things outside of playing football, than he has actually playing football.
The friendships he has made and the experience of going to tournaments out of state are priceless.
I have no aspirations of college scholarships or NFL drafts. But the happiness that my son experiences by playing a sport that he is good at, and playing with his friends as a team.
My daughter was very involved in gymnastics and competitive cheerleading. She is set to start cheering for her middle school this coming year.
With any sport there is a chance of injury. You have to understand that and accept it. But there are many benefits to the kids playing sports like football, soccer, gymnastics or studying ballet (the injuries there are pretty high, not to mention the eating disorders) ice skating, skiing, surfing, track…the list goes on.
Okay, I put my 2 cents into the discussion. 😉
Oh, and btw…I love hockey! 😉
We now know which mothership has collected Olbermann
No wonder are children are testing so poorly these days. They’re religicated.
Ugh
This is so dang true. My kids had a biology teacher in 4th and 5th grade who taught the world was only 10,000 years old and that Dinosaurs never existed…of course my son set him straight. But this teacher still continued to teach this crap when my daughter was in his class the following year. (He is no longer teaching.)
My god, the situation has deteriorated. I went to a Lutheran high school and college (late 60s, early 70s) and we were taught EVOLUTION by called Lutheran teachers. Creationism was never mentioned.
People like that shouldn’t be allowed near children.
The job market continues to deteriorate.
Does this number better reflect the real situation, without the holiday jobs? (I know that they adjust for that…but just curious.)
This is basically related to jobs that wouldn’t be seasonal or part time.
Another explanation for why the torture VP is being pushed by the WH.
There are just too many black ops loving governments–like ours–that owe Egypt big time.
I posted a related story from Haaretz yesterday:
WikiLeaks: Israel long viewed Egypt VP as preferred Mubarak successor
The ME is the most complicated place on earth, and that’s an understatement.
2008 diplomatic cable published by the Daily Telegraph quotes Israeli official as saying that Israel was ‘most comfortable’ with prospect of Omar Suleiman becoming Egypt’s next leader.
now i’m wondering if this was started in order to make it so….the general unrest being but convenient fuel
Mandatory Arabic Classes Coming To Mansfield « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
Now, I think this is a good idea. Wish my kids could participate. But check out the comments on this article. The first one by “Reality” really is as far from reality as you can get.
Glenn Beck: Should Fox Toss Him Out of the Coop?
And just posting this for entertainment purposes.
This may be front page material:
GOP Takes Latest Abortion Fight To The Tax Code : Shots – Health News Blog : NPR
These Republicans are pissing me off!
Republicans’ vicious assault on a woman’s right to choose – The Hill’s Congress Blog
You don’t have to be an economist to know that our economy still needs help, and that Americans who want jobs still can’t find them. Yet, to see the agenda of House Republicans, you would have no idea that the economy is a priority for American voters.
Since taking over the U.S. House of Representatives last month, Republicans made their first priority repealing the health care law – which, if successful, would raise taxes on small businesses and raise the deficit by $230 billion, not to mention reinstate discrimination against preexisting conditions and kick young adults off their parents’ health plans. How does this help the economy or put people back to work? Simple: it doesn’t.
And what is priority number two for House Republicans? Rolling back a woman’s right to choose.