Musafir's Musings

The Bush Administration continues to do its utmost to prevent women from the right not only to abortion but also to birth control aids. The Bush appointees in SCOTUS have not yet overturned Roe v. Wade. In the meantime, Roe v. Wade is under attack in various states, and the current administration is using its powers to support the so called "right to life movement".

S. Dakota's attempts in 2006 to pass draconian anti-abortion law failed, but Republicans are still catering to those who oppose women's right to choose. Strangely, members of the movement are concerned about the foetuses but not for children of unwanted pregnancies. They don't give a hoot about caring for them.

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"Under Iran's Islamic law, stoning to death is the punishment for the crime of adultery." Makes you wonder not only about the mullahs and the Ayatollahs who run Iran, but also about the Iranian people. If all Iranians do not actively condone such prehensile laws, they certainly do very little to protest against them. The infamous Spanish Inquisition and the burning of heretics by the Catholic Church occurred more than 500 years ago. Then there was the Holocaust during Hitler's Third Reich. What the Islamic fundos are doing now in the name of god clearly demonstrates that given a chance they are capable of much more evil. What kind of society makes people tolerate such utterly atrocious laws, laws that have no place in today's world. Is it fear or they just don't care ?

Has Zohreh Sefati, considered a great mutjahed (female equivalent of ayatollah), spoken out about this? Not likely, she is married to an ayatollah.

And they have finessed the execution of death by stoning:

• Under Iran's strict penal code, men convicted of adultery should be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests for stoning. The stones used should not be large enough to kill the person immediately.

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From BBC News - July 20, 2008 Nine face stoning death in Iran At least eight women and one man are reported to have been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran. The group, convicted of adultery and sex offences, could be executed at any time, lawyers defending them say. The lawyers have called on the head of Iran's judiciary to prevent the sentences from being carried out.

'What are we waiting for, gathered in the market-place?
The barbarians are to arrive today."

--C.P. Cavafy

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184 days to go. His legacy is down the tube. He remains willfully unaware of his rating in the polls -- not the only subject he is unaware of; he is going to leave bucket loads of doo-doo for his successor to deal with; but the Decider has tricks up his sleeve.

In another attack against States' rights, the Bush administration's latest move is an effort to put up bureaucratic obstacles to prevent women from access to contraceptive care.

As all web surfers know, the Internet often yields unexpected pleasures. The vast array of information makes it impossible to catch all the gems that can be found, and one shouldn't even think of what is slipping through the net.

Rory MacLean's Travelog in the Guardian (UK), July 16, 2008, is a treasure trove for those in search of travel books.

What I enjoyed -- enjoyed more than the article itself -- were comments from readers.

Haven't found The Best of Myles by Flann O'Brien but quite a few of the recommended titles are in my local library. Enough to keep me hooked for a while. "Motoring with Mohammed" and Pete McCarthy's books about Ireland are at the top of my list. When I traveled in Ireland, J.P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man was what I carried with me. Not a travel book but it made sense to me to re-read it in Ireland.

"Mary Maloney's beautiful arse
Is a sweet apple of sin
Give me Mary's beautiful arse
And a full bottle of gin."
--The Ginger Man, J.P. Donleavy

What happened to the champions of free market economy? They are strangely silent about recent statements from Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson that some regulation -- need to monitor actions by Wall Street-- was called for.

Sacrilegious, un-American. How dare they malign the sacred cow! A year ago Bernanke and Paulson would have either kept their mouths shut or probably have been canned for speaking out. Now, during the sunset of the Bush administration and plunging stock prices due to the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage industry, the people who permitted wrongdoings in the financial markets no longer have the power to continue their support of corporate malfeasance.

Don't write them off though. They are waiting in the wings, praying for John McCain to win the presidential election. McCain has promised to balance the budget by 2013, but did not say how he was going to do it. It is a 'pie in the sky' kind of thing. McCain's empty rhetoric notwithstanding, the free-marketers will again have their place in the sun if he becomes president. Not much is expected to happen between now and November. In the unlikely event that Bernanke and Paulson follow through in introducing some measures with teeth to curb the unethical Wall Streeters, McCain and the Republicans will do all they can to scrap them.

And what will his administration do if Barack Obama wins the White House? Hard to predict. Judging by his recent actions, we are going to be disappointed if we hope to see major changes. But even minor changes to stop the country from going down the road that Bush built would be good for us.
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Economy FreeMarket Regulation BenBernanke HenryPaulson Bush McCain Obama

President Bush is happy. He has reason to be; he got the bill he wanted. It includes immunity for telecom companies that opened their records and allowed access without court order.

Among the Democratic Senators who supported the bill: Diane Feinstein of California. No surprise there. Senator Feinstein is at times more a Republican than Democrat, especially on issues related to Israel. This, however, was not related to Israel unless one considers Israel indirectly benefiting from the passage of the bill. The surprise was Senator Hillary Clinton's vote against the bill.

As to Senator Obama's vote in support of FISA, the handwriting was on the wall. He began laying the ground work (hinting) for the change in his position a few weeks back. The primaries are over, and with them a lot of his promises. It is a new Obama. He is catering to the conservatives much more than some of us expected him to.
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“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
--- Maya Angelou

A foreign-born citizen, I am bemused by the jingoism that exists about our flag. Respect the flag, of course, but not to the degree of making it a fetish. Yet the same people think nothing about dishonoring it every day by using geegaws and chochkes depicting the flag. Latest craze is waving gigantic flags during games and sporting events. Bigger is better? Ya Habibi.

U.S. History.org
Section 8c. reads:"The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free."

See: Another Photo Opportunity for the Buffoons in Congress
June 22, 2005

Many of you enjoyed the July 4th fireworks. The display of images created by craftsmen and chemists never fails to impress the viewers. Over the years the fireworks have become very sophisticated. Most of the fireworks that we admire come from China.

Fireworks are considered hazardous cargo and designated under two categories by IMO and U.S. Code of Federal Regulations -- Class 1.4G and Class 1.3G Explosives, the latter being the more hazardous. Special requirements apply to carriage of such cargo by land and sea (prohibited for transportation by air).

This is about two 40' ocean containers with Class 1.3G Fireworks from Liuyang, China (a major fireworks manufacturing center), to Inman, Kansas, in heartland America -- a distance of more than 7,000 miles by sea and land.



The containers were due to arrive at Dallas on Sunday, June 29th. Southern Freight (the trucking company chosen for carrying the containers to Inman) informed us that it would not be possible for them to move them before Tuesday, July 1st. at the earliest. Dallas to Inman is 428 miles, about 8 hours' drive under optimal conditions. The importers, Sky Color Display, felt that receipt of the containers late on Tuesday would not allow them enough time to unload them and set up the fireworks. They offered to drive to Dallas and receive the shipments. That, too, presented problems. The importers would have required an interchange agreement with the steamship line to move the containers, and they would have had to return the empty containers to the rail ramp at Dallas which would have been quite expensive. Michael Huntsinger at Southern Freight offered a solution. Huntsinger said he could move the containers on Monday morning (June 30th) from the rail yard to Southern Freight's terminal and transload the cargo from the two ocean containers to Sky Color's trucks. Steve Bell of Sky Color accepted the plan; felt that it would work.....give them sufficient time to make the necessary arrangements before July 4th.

For the operation to proceed as planned there was need to obtain "rail pick up numbers" from Danske Line to enable Southern Freight to remove the containers from rail yard. That was accomplished early on Monday morning. Huntsinger confirmed that Sky Color Display's equipment and crew were in position and everything was "go". The transloading operation was completed without hitch and Sky Color's trucks departed for Inman before noon. It was gratifying to get an e-mail from Betty Bell of Sky Color that said: "received our products".