Farsitube! - Skiing in Iran

There's Farsitube?

Far out.

Check out Skiing in Iran. It's an amatuer documentary on, um, skiing in Iran and the axis of evil.

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Christ: "King of the World!"

According to James Cameron, director of such classic theological treatises as Terminator, Aliens and especially Terminator 2, Jesus Christ died on the cross at Golgotha. On this, both he and the Pope agree. But instead of rising from the grave three days later, pouring himself a cup of coffee and then wandering the countryside inviting disbelievers to jam their index fingers into his crucifixion wounds, Jesus stayed dead and spent the next two millennia rotting in the grave. And bad news, Christians! James Cameron claims to have DNA evidence to prove it.

From Table of Malcontents

I'm not a big believer in Christ being reborn myself, but.. Titanic director James Cameron? Like, "King of the World", makes him qualified to certify the King of Peace?

The tombs have been around for awhile, but James Cameron has a documentary coming out on the subject, directed by Jewish director Simcha Jacobovici, which may explain the press conference.

Reactions - the theologians think he's misinformed, the archeaolgists think he's press hungry, and the local Jews who live around the area the tomb was found?

They're quite happy.

Local residents told the BBC News website they were pleased with the attention the tomb has drawn.

"It will mean our house prices will go up because Christians will want to live here," one woman said.

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The 40 year old Egyptian Virgin

Shiekh Khaled El Gindy, an Al-Azhar scholar and member of the Higher Council of Islamic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt that he agrees with the new fatwa.

"Islam never differentiates between men and women, so it is not rational for us to think that God has placed a sign to indicate the virginity of women without having a similar sign to indicate the virginity of men," El Gindy said.

"Any man who is concerned about his prospective wife’s hymen should first provide a proof that he himself is virgin," he added.

From Daily Star, Egypt

I rather like Egypt.


Other bits -

Even more shocking to many observers, Gomaa said that if a married woman had sexual intercourse with another man but truly regretted her actions and asked God for forgiveness, she should not tell her husband.

"According to Sharia, if a husband knew that his wife had sexual intercourse with anyone else, he should divorce her, so by not telling him she would be protecting her home and her life," he explained

I rather like the idea of someone interpreting the old books according to the principles they were founded on, rather than on some pet issue latter-day clerics found pressing. It's also good to see someone who realises that there's a huge difference between a cultural practice that sprung up because of the need to be able to apply a principle in that period of time, and a religious obligation.

According to the good mufti here, the overriding principle is protection of life and self, which takes precedence over telling your husband of your vagina's extra-curricular activities. The latter is based on the idea that the vagina somehow belongs to the husband, and as such, he gets to control it, as his personal spawning pond.

In the way he's interpreting it, the mufti is essentially saying that a women's well-being takes precedence over some man's sexual right.

It's International Women's Day next month. I'm in that kind of mood. On a side note, the mufti sounds a bit looney. I should probably check if it's been reported anywhere else.

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The women of Iraq

The war turns gender roles on its head.

In Iraq:

We were asked to send the next of kin to whom the remains of my nephew, killed on Monday in a horrific explosion downtown, can be handed over. The young men of the family, as was customary, rose to go.

“NO!” cried his mother. “Isn’t my son enough?? Must we lose more of our youth?? You know there are unknowns who wait at the Morgue to either kill or kidnap the men who dare reach its doors. I will go.”

So we went, his mum, his other aunt and I.

I was praying all the way there.


I never thought a day would come when it was the women of the family, who would be safer on the roads.

Read the rest of it at Inside Iraq

There really isn't anything that I can say that hasn't been said before, and said better. But with the mess in Iraq now, it's hard to remember that the other conservative Arab nations were worried about Iraq, not for Saddam, but because Iraq looked and behaved a lot like America - wealthy, modern, and moderately secular.

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