Monday, March 03, 2008
The Hague to Mazar-i-Sharif
There they go again. Fitna, a film made by Dutch MP Geert Wilders has riled up Muslims because it criticises Islam! It is a long way from The Hague to Mazar-i-Sharif (Tomb of the Chief) in northern Afghanistan but didn't take long for the mob to appear there. The BBC reported:
"On Sunday, hundreds of Afghans took to the streets in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to protest against the film. Demonstrators burned Dutch flags, and called for the withdrawal of Dutch troops from the Nato force." |
Some Muslims are touchy about the Koran. Takes very little to incite them to go on rampage, ready to kill and burn. But where would we be if all countries prohibit critical books and articles about the Koran or making films that question or criticise its teachings?
The Indian Government has taken a positive step against selective, gender-based, abortions. The cash incentive is expected to reduce the number of such abortions.
Guardian.co.UK The Indian government today announced a scheme to pay poor families to give birth to and bring up girls in an attempt to stop families nationwide aborting an estimated half a million female foetuses a year. Families in seven states are set to benefit from cash payments amounting to 15,500 rupees (£193) to keep and bring up their female children. Ministers say more than 100,000 girls could be saved in the first year. In India ultrasound technology coupled with a traditional preference for boys, who are seen as future breadwinners, has led to mass female foeticide. |
©Musafir March 2, 2008Beauties, but found only a few of them. The soil felt dry when I walked in the woods yesterday afternoon. With most of the rains behind us, the season for chanterelles is ending in this part of the San Francisco Bay area. It will be November before I go foraging for wild mushrooms. In the meantime, we can look forward to a show of wild flowers. The rains in February created the right conditions for good displays.
Apart from occasional wintry showers
And frosts some nights to spoil our flowers,
Winter's done.
--David Curtis (Perthshire, Scotland, 2002)
