"...followed by a brisk mauling."
| Alhamdulillah |
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I need feminism because other people shouldn’t shame me for wanting to be a single mom
This. Fucking this. Always.
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Love this! It’s so true & perfect!
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This is why gender neutral bathrooms are necessary
Some places around here have gender neutral bathrooms...
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All things truly wicked start from innocence.
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His shirt reads “They gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.”
You are a bad-ass.
Ginger Strivelli,from Weaverville, NC, was slightly perturbed when her twelve-year-old son brought a Bible home from his public school. She spoke to the school’s principal, who said that for years, Gideon’s International had dropped off copies of the Bible that were given out to interested students. When Ginger seemed upset, possibly because of a little something called “separation of Church and State,” the principal assured her that, as is allowed/required by the First Amendment, the school would hand out donated texts from any religion. Ginger went home, mollified. And promptly returned with a stack of books to donate. Spell books. Because Ginger Strivelli is pagan, and a practicing witch.
Now, as alluded to previously, the First Amendment allows schools two choices with regards to religious texts. The school can either hand out donations of ANY specific religion, or, it can choose to deny religious donations and thus hand out NO books. But it has to be one of the other, you see? Otherwise the school is technically advocating a particular religion, and that’s frowned upon by our supposedly secular government. Now, since the school has ALREADY passed out the Gideon’s Bible, they’re required to accept donations of any other religion as well. So Ginger returned to the school, arms heavy with some of her favorite Wiccan texts to give out. The principal, probably with a slightly strained smile, took a look at Ginger’s donation. And turned her away.
Now, beyond the issue of fairness, legal experts generally agree that the First Amendment, applied to this particular situation, requires that since some religious materials were accepted by the school, all should be. Applied, in fact, the First Amendment indicates that to turn away some religious donations in favor of others is illigal.
The Weaverville school board has announced that it is reviewing its policies in regards to this incident, and while doing so will not be able to accept any donations of the kind.
I wish you would die. I really do. I don’t want to. There’s this horrid queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Bitter bile in my throat. Crying now. Been less than five minutes since I had that thought. Already crying. Already can’t breathe.
I hate myself for wanting another human being to die. It goes against everything I have come to believe this past year—and all of these new beliefs and faiths have made me a better, happier, more peaceful person.
But how else is this supposed to end? Court case after court case, after arrest after restraining order after probation after parole after slap-on-the-wrist after 27-days-for-3-counts-of-sexual-assault-and-2-counts-of-physical-assault, after five years, after more threats after more threats after more threats repeat ad nauseum. Where does this end? Where does this end? Where does this end?
When every single phone call has to be screened; when every single cop car is a panic attack; when every single courthouse holds an image of your face; when every single new boss/adviser/office/CA/landlord has to have a copy of that useless restraining order; when every e-mail is filtered through three separate systems; when every photo taken raises the question “Is there anything here he can use to identify me?”; when every single paper/assignment/letter/article/conversation is under an assumed name; when every NH license plate is terror—and all the other ones, too; when every crowd is hiding my death; when every part of me my sister doesn’t understand is a part that exists because of you; when every authority in my community knows my name, my face, my past, my problems only because of you; when everything I see is a memory; when every friend I open up to thinks of me afterward only as the-person-you-did-those-things-to; when the present and all futures are marred by who you are and what you did and what I became because of it;
when every breath is in spite of you;
when every victory is still a loss;
when every action is motivated by fear;
when no distance is quite far enough;
when it’s five years past and my life is still defined by you;
then when does it end?
When does it end?
With jail? With more probation? Tomorrow? Next year? When my memory has failed me in the winter of my years? Or is it only when one of us is dead; a rotting stinking corpse decaying in a wood box placed back in the Earth? Or is even that not enough?
Does it end?
Allah, guide me. Give me strength. Help me to find purpose and faith and hope and peace. Help me to move through this world in liberty, not fear. Help me see you in every ray of light, in every dark corner. Allah, guide me. Hold me. Help me. It’s been four days since I have prayed to you. And that is my failing. And I do repent. But it has been four days since I have felt your presence. And I need you, Allah. I need your light to guide me. I need your presence to heal me. I need you, Allah, to help keep me whole, so I may help others.
Allah, guide me to find the strength within myself to help myself. Deal with me in weakness, Allah, so I may bring others to your strength.
Alhamdulillah.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a mother of two, was convicted of “adultery while being married” and was sentenced to be executed by stoning. Her story received an avalanche of coverage in the international media—much of which detailed the gruesome particulars of death by stoning. Following a world-wide outcry that included human rights activists as well as Hollywood celebrities and high officials such as the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, the Iranian Embassy in London announced on July 8 that Ms Ashtiani would in fact not be stoned, although her ultimate fate is still unclear. The welcome announcement that the stoning will not be carried out demonstrates the effectiveness and the importance of vigorously protesting Iran’s human rights violations; despite some claims to the contrary, the Iranian government is not immune to international pressure and world opinion. The apparent concession is however indicative of where the Iranian authorities’ true priorities lie.
The second woman, Zeynab Jalalian is a 27-year-old ethnic Kurdish political activist. She was sentenced to death in early 2009 after being convicted of “Moharebeh” (“enmity against God”) and she is in imminent danger of execution by hanging at any time. Currently held in Evin Prison, Tehran, she was arrested in 2007. Her conviction was based on her alleged membership in a Kurdish armed opposition group. She has said she was tortured and sexually abused in detention. She is reported not to have been granted access to her lawyer during her trial, which is said to have lasted only a few minutes and during which no evidence was reportedly produced against her. Zeynab Jalalian’s death sentence was upheld on appeal and confirmed by the Supreme Court on 26 November 2009. Her family have received no news of her for a month and have been told by the authorities that her case file has been “lost.”
While the Iranian authorities have relented in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, they have so far remained intractable in the case of Zeynab Jalalian. Despite the gross injustice she has suffered and the gravity of her situation, she has not attracted the same media attention as Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Although execution by hanging may be less “sensational” than execution by stoning, and although conviction on politically motivated charges—however unsubstantiated—may seem less deplorable than conviction for adultery, it can be argued that Zeynab Jalalian’s case raises more profound concerns about the Iranian authorities’ abuse of their citizens.
Iran is second only to China in the number of executions the state commits against its own people (the US is 7th, for those of you who’d like to know). For years, we have watched as Iran commits abuses against its own citizens. Reports of secret executions, sham trials, torture, humiliation, physical and sexual assaults have trickled out of the country over and over. Now that trickle has become a torrent.
And still we sit in silence.
The abuses suffered by Iranian prisoners are shocking in their quantity, intensity, and pure despicable cruelty. Prisoners and their families consistently have no political or social power to create positive change, and any Iranian who attempts such change is liable to be arrested themselves.
But the current Iranian government, eager to gain the economic and political power afforded to them by becoming allied with Western nations, is ever watchful of reports by the global media. Negative press and global outcries brought about by certain shocking cases of abominable abuses have in the past managed to save the lives of some Iranian prisoners.
We have the power to help change this. We have the duty to.
(via standwithfreeiran)
Iranian citizens are being detained, tortured, raped, and executed daily, simply because they dare to disagree with the current government. Such hatred and violence against our own brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, lovers and friends and neighbors—this is wrong. This is not what Islam stands for. Such blatant violence against another person is an affront to Allah. And the silence of the world in the face of it—through ignorance, misunderstanding, or a lack of care—this silence disgraces all of us. All of us who sit by in silence, who choose to ignore a vast humanitarian crisis and blatant disregard for basic human rights, we are disgraced by our silence as much as by our inaction.
One year on. The world, some think, may have moved past. But we will not forget. Stand with a free Iran.
Insha Allah, peace will come.
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Have we mentioned this before? Play it again.
I think this photo epitomizes courage.
Surviving the World.
