Monday, October 31, 2016

Muhammad Was A Feminist

Huh?
A couple of days ago, I downloaded the Huffington Post application to a new iPhone, a feeble attempt at making myself aware of what the other point of view has to say.  After studying the content the application was quickly removed.
Now we learn of this article via Breitbart that draws attention to a ludicrous statement made by the the Huffington Post.
Muhammad Was A Feminist
A statement, as title of the article, that is contrary to the portrayals seen in western media. When I read such a statement, my first presumption is that author is attempting to draw the reader in with a statement of political incorrectness. Breitbart describes the conceptual statement as "legerdemain" which I had to look up and is a noun defined as...
pronounced: lejərdəˈmān
defined:  skillful use of one's hands when performing conjuring tricks.
synonyms:  sleight of hand, conjuring, magic, wizardry, deception, trickery, cunning, artfulness, craftiness, chicanery, skulduggery, deceit, deception, artifice
Excerpts from Banafsheh Sayyad's article follow with comments
The prophet Muhammad would be appalled by how current Islamic Fundamentalists are treating women under their control. This suppression is done in the name of Islamic Law, known as Sharia. But the current suppression of women is shaped by cultural and history. It has little basis in the Quran and it is certainly not consistent with anything we know about what Muhammad taught or how he treated women. Of all the founders of the great religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam and Judaism — Muhammad was easily the most radical and empowering in his treatment of women. Arguably he was history’s first feminist.
An opening salvo, declarative statement that will be supported by equally obsurd examples.

This is of critical importance because if there is one single thing that Arabs and Muslims could do to reform and re-vitalize their crisis ridden cultures, it would be to liberate their women and provide them with the full rights women are enjoying in more and more countries around the world. Women’s equality is key to a real Arab Spring.
There is certainly more than one thing that can be done, but as a statement of the need for eqaulity of Islamic womento Islamic men, fine.
Among the founders of the great religions, Confucius barely mentioned women at all and assumed in all his teachings that they we subordinate to men within a patriarchal order. Buddha taught that women could become enlightened but had to be pressured three times before allowing women to become nuns, and then only on the condition, as he put it, that the highest nun would be lower than the lowest monk. In the Gospel accounts, Jesus did not explicitly comment on the status of women, although he did associate with women of ill repute and with non Jewish women. Moses was thoroughly patriarchal and there is virtually nothing in the Torah that indicates specific concern about women’s rights.
Is this an argument that the absence of statements by religious icons is proof of a discriminatory prediliction? In all cases these writings are transcriptions of what the leaders had said, thereby imbibed with the writing styles and cultures of that time. 
Muhammad was fundamentally different. He both explicitly taught the radical equality of women and men as a fundamental tenet of true spirituality, and he took numerous concrete measures to profoundly improve the status and role of women in Arabia during his own lifetime. Muhammad was sensitized to the plight of women because he was born poor and orphaned at a very early age. He was also illiterate. He knew as few did what poverty and social exclusion meant.
Please give us examples this teaching of of the concept of equality. This is a statement of fact without support.
Confucius was born into the gentry scholar class of ancient China. Buddha was born a wealthy prince in Nepal. Jesus was born the son of a carpenter with royal lineage and within a tightly knit Jewish community in Palestine. Moses was born into a Hebrew family and raised in the palace of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Muhammad had none of these advantages. Thus while other religious leaders seemed strangely silent about the oppression of women, Muhammad dramatically raised the status of women as a matter of religious conviction and state policy. Consider the following:
The lineage of Confucius, I cannot speak for, but the Moses was a slave, and Jesus lived in a conquered country ruled by Rome.
During seventh century Arabia, female infanticide was commonplace. Muhammad abolished it. A saying in the Hadith (the collection of sayings of Muhammad) records that Muhammad said that the birth of a girl was a “blessing.” Women in Arabia at that time were essentially considered property and had absolutely no civil rights. Muhammad gave them the right to own property and they were extended very important marital and inheritance rights.
Taken at face value, a fine act of reformation. Today, 13 centuries later, Muslims still treat women in the same Bedouin manner, women are chattel. So while the infanticide may have been stopped, the basic culture which practices female subjugation has continued.
Prior to Muhammad, the dowry paid by a man for his bride was given to her father as part of the contract between the two men. Women had no say in the matter. Muhammad declared that women needed to assent to the marriage and that the dowry should go to the bride, not the father; furthermore, she could keep the dowry even after marriage. The wife did not have to use the dowry for family expenses. That was the responsibility of the man. Women were also given the right to divorce their husbands, something unprecedented at that time. In a divorce, the woman was empowered to take the dowry with her.
There is a large a gap between what the prophet has instructed and what the behavior is.
Women were extended inheritance rights as well. They were only given half as much as their brothers because the men had more financial responsibilities for family expenses, but with Muhammad, women became inheritors of property and family assets for the first time in Arabia. At the time, this was considered revolutionary.
There is a large a gap between what the prophet has instructed and what the behavior is.
Muhammad himself was often seen doing “women’s work” around the house and was very attentive to his family. His first marriage to Khadija was monogamous for the entire 15 years they were married, something rare in Arabia at that time. By all accounts, they were deeply in love and Khadija in fact was the first convert to Islam. She encouraged Muhammad from his very first encounter with the angel Gabriel and the recitation of the first suras that were to become the Quran.
This is not unlike similar instances in the Bible.
After Khadija’s death, Muhammad married 12 wives. One was Aisha, the daughter of his closest friend and ally Abu Baker. The rest were nearly all widows, divorced women, or captives. He preached consistently that it was the responsibility of men to protect those women who had met with misfortune. This was one of the reasons polygamy was encouraged. Even with female infanticide, women in seventh century Arabia far outnumbered men because so many men were killed in the inter-tribal warfare of the day. Several of Muhammad’s wives were poor and destitute and he took them in, along with their children, into his household.
As a grown man of over 50 years old, Muhammad married a six year old girl. The feminist in him kept him from consummating until she was nine years old.
In his Farewell Sermon delivered shortly before he died in 632, Muhammad said to the men, “You have certain rights over women but they have certain rights over you.” Women, he said, are your “partners and helpers.” In one of the sayings of the Hadith, Muhammad says, “The best men are those who are best to their wives.”
Again, there is a large a gap between what the prophet has instructed and what the behavior is.
His wife Aisha took a leadership role after his death in bringing together the Hadith and another wife played a leading role in gathering together the suras that comprise the Quran. Each of the 114 suras that comprise the Quran with the exception of sura 9 begin with the words Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim. Translated most commonly as “In the Name of God, all compassionate, all merciful,” the deeper meaning of this phrase is “In the Name of the One who births compassion and mercy from the womb.” This invocation of the feminine aspect of Allah is key to an Islamic Renaissance.
What happened after the prophets death has no bearing on who he was as a man. Sorry, this statement carries no weight at all.
Finally, there is nothing in the Quran about women wearing the veil, the Hejab. That was certainly the custom in Arabia at that time and Muhammad’s wives wore the Hejab to designate their special status as “Mothers of the Believers,” but the only thing the Quran says directly is that women should dress “modestly.” Muhammad said the same thing to men. For him, modesty of dress was expressive of modesty of the heart. Muhammad himself, even when he was supreme leader, never wore anything more than simple white woolen attire.
And yet, burkas are required attire for many Islamic women. It can be granted that, excluding the royals, and the burkas, that man and women both dress in a manner that is both similar and modest.
So radical were Muhammad’s reforms that the status of women in Arabia and early Islam was higher than any other society in the world at that time. Women in 7th century Arabia had rights not extended to most women in the West till recent centuries over 1,000 years later. The fact that women have ended up in such a degraded position in many contemporary Arab/Muslim counties is a tragedy and needs to be rectified if the Islamic culture and civilization is to flourish again as it did during the Abbasid Caliphate from the 8th - 13th centuries when Islamic civilization was a shining light to the world. Liberating women would have profound effects politically, economically, culturally, artistically, and religiously. It would take the Arab Spring to a whole new level, which is what is so desperately needed in those countries that suffered the first Arab Spring as a stillbirth.
The teachings did not become part of the culture, sure to describe as a reform would be at best, premature.
It is time for Islam to liberate women fully and do so upon the example of Muhammad and the authority of the Quran that holds compassion and mercy as the first and foremost attributes of Allah.
Agreed.

After running through the article, I find it runs a path parallel to the liberal description of Islam being a religion of peace. Most points, I am willing to stipulate, as long as the proponents the prophet being a "feminist" stipulate that the culture Islam is one that embraces the legal framework known as Sharia, and barbaric practices like forced female circumcision.
As an aside, I would guess that to the Islamic terrorist ilk, a woman such the author Banafsheh Sayyad might be a candidate for being stoned for referring to the prophet as a feminist.  That is simply my suggestion. 
People seldom live up to the teachings of their religion. At this time in history, the tribal Bedouins are making Muhammad look like an ineffectual teacher. If you want to claim that Muhammad is a feminist, fine, but if that is your position you must accept that his followers aren't very good disciples.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Such A Nice Offer

Here I am an old man, married, and uninteresting.
Where were girls like this when I was younger.
I could put a Donald move on them.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Hillary's Skills

Have been keeping pretty quiet on the election and what side I support.
My brother shares about 20 links a day on Facebook, trying to inform people who take the Democrats statements at face value.
Citizens are entitled to a defense and what she did during the trial of this rapist was probably legal. Following a case such as this, the attitude should be that she did not like defending the man, but she did her best within the law. The attitude she did project afterword is what is disturbing. The nervous laugh, the same sick sounding cackle we heard during the Congressional hearings, shows the person at the core. She nervous, uncaring, cold, and to her enemies and the weak, she is mean spirited.
No one should doubt that at minimum Hillary Clinton is most interested in her position in in the world, and her care for other women is feigned, reaching only as far as the voting machine.
This is an example of treatment of women that should be vilified in all media.



Sunday, October 16, 2016

The World According to Garp

Going back to the first time I read the book The Hotel New Hampshire, John Irving has been my favorite author. With nothing fun to read at hand one day, found an old paperback copy of The World According to Garp and decided to go for the re-read.
The World According to Garp was published in 1978, is John Irving's fourth novel and first of critical and financial acclaim.
This is story of a TS Garp, born to an independent feminist before there even was a classification of the term feminist. He grew up well nurtured by a thoughtful woman, becoming an author, and for the most part lived a lived curtailed by women.
This is a wonderful book, a must read for any adult who enjoys humor tinged with political unrest.
Buy it, steal it, read it.

Starve Government, Feed Business


Congress.org presents MEGAVOTE for September 26, 2016 and Georgia's 13th Congressional District.

Recent Congressional Votes
  • Senate: Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations – Cloture on Motion to Proceed
  • Senate: Prohibit Sales of Military Equipment to Saudi Arabia – Motion to Table
  • House: Legal Challenges to Federal Rules
  • House: Identify Assets of Top Iranians
  • House: Defer Taxing Stock Options for Startups
  • House: Bar Ransom Payments for Hostages
Upcoming Congressional Bills
  • Senate: Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations
  • Senate: Veto Override of Lawsuits by U.S. Victims of International Terrorism
  • House: Water Resources Development
  • House: Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations
Recent Senate Votes:
Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations – Cloture on Motion to Proceed Vote Agreed to (89-7, 4 Not Voting)
The bill appropriates $3.5 billion Legislative Branch bill for fiscal 2017, which covers the operations of the House, the Capitol Police, Architect of the Capitol, Library of Congress and other agencies. The measure is expected to be the vehicle for the continuing resolution that would deal with broader veterans funding and emergency money needed to fight the spread of the Zika virus. Sixty votes were needed to invoke cloture.
Sen. Johnny Isakson voted YES
Sen. David Perdue voted NO
Votes on deciding to talk or deliberate or whatever, bore me. Well they got the 60+ votes needed, and progress for a vehicle of little consequence.

Prohibit Sales of Military Equipment to Saudi Arabia – Motion to Table Vote Agreed to (71-27, 2 Not Voting)
The joint resolution prohibits a roughly $1 billion sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, including well more than a hundred Abrams tanks.
Sen. Johnny Isakson voted YES
Sen. David Perdue voted YES
Sell them the damned tanks, the Saudis are duplicitous bastards but they are loyal because they want us to buy their oil.

Recent House Votes:
Legal Challenges to Federal Rules Vote Passed (244-180, 7 Not Voting)
The bill postpones, until all legal challenges are completed, the implementation of any new federal rule that would have an economic impact of $1 billion or more per year.
Rep. David Scott voted NO
I like the concept and how the vote went. Democrats, for the most part, love regulations the most. It affords them the opportunity to extend the power of government.

Identify Assets of Top Iranians Vote Passed (282-143, 6 Not Voting)
The bill requires the Treasury secretary to compile and submit to Congress a report detailing the known assets of Iran's top political and military leaders, how those assets were acquired and for what purposes the assets were used.
Rep. David Scott voted YES
The intent is correct, but I have little doubt that the Executive Branch will do everything it can to obstruct. 

Defer Taxing Stock Options for Startups Vote Passed (287-124, 20 Not Voting)
The bill allows employee stockholders in certain startup businesses to defer income taxes on stock options for up to seven years, when they are more likely to have the funds to make the tax payments.
Rep. David Scott voted YES
We should be pleased with our Congressman on this vote. Anything that defers or obliterates taxes is a good thing. Starve the government, feed the business.

Bar Ransom Payments for Hostages Vote Passed (254-163, 14 Not Voting)
The bill specifies that it is the policy of the U.S. government not to pay ransom or release prisoners for the purpose of securing the release of U.S. citizens taken hostage abroad, and it generally prohibits the U.S. government from providing to the government of Iran, either directly or indirectly, any cash or other promissory note. It requires the administration to obtain a Treasury foreign assets license before settling any pending financial claims with Iran, and to publicly disclose each such transaction and payment.
Rep. David Scott voted NO
Explain to me Mr. Scott, why you would vote against this. The policy is already in practice and the President has already proven that he is willing to break banking laws to pay ransom

Upcoming Votes:
Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations - HR5325 
The bill would appropriate $3.5 billion Legislative Branch bill for fiscal 2017, which covers the operations of the House, the Capitol Police, Architect of the Capitol, Library of Congress and other agencies. The measure is expected to be the vehicle for the continuing resolution that would deal with broader veterans funding and emergency money needed to fight the spread of the Zika virus.
Politicians love to spend money, after talking about it endlessly.

Veto Override of Lawsuits by U.S. Victims of International Terrorism - S2040
The measure would permit possible lawsuits by U.S. victims of international terrorism against foreign nationals, which could allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue certain Saudi citizens, including members of the royal family. The bill was vetoed by President Barack Obama on September 23, 2016.
Here is a tip, they did it, it was political grandstanding by the Congress, but they did it.

Water Resources Development - HR5303
The bill would authorize 27 new water projects for construction by the Army Corps of Engineers and would authorizes the corps to conduct feasibility studies for 29 possible projects. It also would deauthorize five existing projects and would establish an expedited process for the deauthorization of other projects that are no longer viable, and it would modify the water project selection process created by the 2014 authorization law and other elements of that law in order to clarify and strengthen its application and use.
Give them everything they ask for. This is the real shovel ready spending.

Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations - HR5325
The bill would appropriate $3.5 billion Legislative Branch bill for fiscal 2017, which covers the operations of the House, the Capitol Police, Architect of the Capitol, Library of Congress and other agencies. The measure is expected to be the vehicle for the continuing resolution that would deal with broader veterans funding and emergency money needed to fight the spread of the Zika virus.
Politicians love to spend money, after talking about it endlessly.

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Friday, October 7, 2016

A Drop in the Bucket


Congress presents the MEGAVOTE for September 21, 2016 and Georgia's 13th Congressional District.

Recent Congressional Votes
  • Senate: Water Resources Development - Motion to Invoke Cloture
  • Senate: Water Resources Development - Passage
  • House: Health Expenses Tax Deductions
  • House: Disclose Agency Rule-Making Communications
  • House: Veterans Affairs Department Accountability
  • House: Prohibit Guantanamo Transfers
Upcoming Congressional Bills
  • Senate: Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations
  • Senate: Prohibit Sales of Military Equipment to Saudi Arabia
  • House: Legal Challenges to Federal Rules
  • House: Identify Assets of Top Iranians
  • House: Defer Taxing Stock Options for Startups
  • House: Bar Ransom Payments for Hostages
Recent Senate Votes:
Water Resources Development – Motion to Invoke Cloture Vote Agreed to (94-3, 3 Not Voting)
Motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the bill which authorizes $10.6 billion in funding for more than 30 Army Corps of Engineers water infrastructure projects under the current law (PL 113-121), including waterways and flood control systems, as well as Environmental Protection Agency drinking water infrastructure programs. The measure authorizes $220 million in recovery assistance, specifically $100 million for water infrastructure improvements available to "states with emergency drinking water situations" via state revolving fund loans; $70 million in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act credit subsidies; and $50 million in health screening and education grants. Sixty votes are needed to invoke cloture.
Sen. Johnny Isakson voted YES
Sen. David Perdue voted YES
Debate has been limited on discussion of the water resources bill. Interesting that the value of the bill is 10.6B$, bu the major items described do not amount to even 10% of that amount. Plainly speaking, 100M$ is a drop in the bucket, no pun intended. This kind of infrastructure is very expensive, any major city in the United States could spend all of that 100M$ in a year or two.

Water Resources Development - Passage Vote Passed (95-3, 2 Not Voting)
The Senate passed legislation which authorizes $10.6 billion in funding for more than 30 Army Corps of Engineers water infrastructure projects under the current law (PL 113-121), including waterways and flood control systems, as well as Environmental Protection Agency drinking water infrastructure programs. The measure also authorizes $220 million in recovery assistance, specifically $100 million for water infrastructure improvements available to "states with emergency drinking water situations" via state revolving fund loans; $70 million in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act credit subsidies; and $50 million in health screening and education grants.
Sen. Johnny Isakson voted YES
Sen. David Perdue voted YES
The bill includes 50M$ for health screening and education grants. 
For 50$ I can handle that, water flows down hill, freezes when it gets cold and if it's dirty don't drink it.

Recent House Votes:
Health Expenses Tax Deductions Vote Passed (261-147, 23 Not Voting)
The legislation repeals the increases in the threshold at which individuals may begin deducting unreimbursed medical expenses from their income as set by the 2010 health care law, thereby rolling the threshold back to 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income for all taxpayers and preventing the threshold from increasing to 10 percent for senior citizens. Under the measure, the medical deduction threshold reverts to 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income beginning with the current 2016 tax year.
Rep. David Scott voted Not Voting
The shit-storm that ACA has created in the insurance industry is going to be felt world wide soon enough. Interesting that my congressman backed away from a vote on this topic. Perhaps he's being a bit more analytical.

Disclose Agency Rule-Making Communications Vote Passed (250-171, 10 Not Voting)
The legislation requires each federal agency to maintain an online searchable list of its regulatory actions and all public communications it makes regarding those regulatory actions. It also prohibits agencies from soliciting support for, or promoting, its regulatory actions.
Rep. David Scott voted YES
A fine idea that in no way will affect anything in a positive manner. The government machine is in the business of creating regulations, whether they be at the behest of business or political objective. I don't see how the process can separate an agencies need to be involved in regulation development without serving as an advocate for the same.

Veterans Affairs Department Accountability Vote Passed (310-116, 5 Not Voting)
The bill expands the ability of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department to fire or demote VA employees based on performance or misconduct, and it overhauls the VA's current disability appeals process by giving veterans the choice of three "lanes" for appeal when dissatisfied with an initial VA benefits decision. It also includes provisions to protect VA whistleblowers against retaliation by supervisors, authorizes the VA to recoup employee bonuses and relocation expenses, allows the VA to reduce Senior Executive Service (SES) employees' pensions upon conviction of certain felonies, streamlines disciplinary actions for SES employees and eliminates all bonuses for SES employees for five years.
Rep. David Scott voted YES
Has anybody gone to prison for cooking the books for the the purpose of padding statistics and obtaining bonus pay for performance that did not happen? No and nobody will.  These administrators are guilty of theft and conspiracy to commit theft.

Prohibit Guantanamo Transfers Vote Passed (244-174, 13 Not Voting)
The measure prohibits the Defense Department from transferring or releasing any detainee from the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into the United States, its territories or possessions, or to any foreign country or entity. The blanket prohibition would end on Jan. 21, 2017, or earlier once a Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2017 is enacted.
Rep. David Scott voted YES
My congressman votes against the President. A President whom I somewhat suspect will circumvent and release some of these folks in the next three months, regardless of any law.

Upcoming Votes:
Fiscal 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations - HR5325
The bill would appropriate $3.5 billion Legislative Branch bill for fiscal 2017, which covers the operations of the House, the Capitol Police, Architect of the Capitol, Library of Congress and other agencies. The current bill text is expected to be replaced with text containing the continuing resolution that would deal with broader veterans funding and emergency money needed to fight the spread of the Zika virus.
Zika?

Prohibit Sales of Military Equipment to Saudi Arabia - SJRes39
The joint resolution would prohibit a roughly $1 billion sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, including well more than a hundred Abrams tanks.
The tanks aren't the problem with Saudi Arabia, its the duplicitous sheiks who run the country. They do business with the United States, all the time fomenting religious warfare. 

Legal Challenges to Federal Rules - HR3438
The bill would postpone, until all legal challenges are completed, the implementation of any new federal rule that would have an economic impact of $1 billion or more per year.
This would be ignored, or at least skirted, all it would take is an intentional misstatement of the expect financial impact. Remember, these people are liars and the want nothing more than to run everything.

Identify Assets of Top Iranians - HR5461
The bill would require the Treasury secretary to compile and submit to Congress a report detailing the known assets of Iran's top political and military leaders, how those assets were acquired and for what purposes the assets were used.
I think a better list to keep, would be, one which lists all Iranians donating money to political candidates and organizations in the United States.

Defer Taxing Stock Options for Startups - HR5719
The bill would allow employee stockholders in certain startup businesses to defer income taxes on stock options for up to seven years, when they are more likely to have the funds to make the tax payments.
The IRS has been playing a little bit dirty on this topic, making some taxpayers pay taxes on unrealized profits.

Bar Ransom Payments for Hostages - HR5931
The bill would specify that it is the policy of the U.S. government not to pay ransom or release prisoners for the purpose of securing the release of U.S. citizens taken hostage abroad, and it generally would prohibit the U.S. government from providing to the government of Iran, either directly or indirectly, any cash or other promissory note. It would require the administration to obtain a Treasury foreign assets license before settling any pending financial claims with Iran, and to publicly disclose each such transaction and payment.
There were already laws non the books that the President and his minions ignores when making the last transfer to Iran. Who thinks that a motivated politicians is going to be limited by some silly law such as this? Not me.

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