The Indian Rock
Jun 22, 2006
Rahul Dravid is the most consistent Indian batsman of his generation. He just completed ten years of Test cricket:
Dravid's achievements hardly need chronicling, but one of his most significant might be that of scoring runs in all conditions, all countries, against all attacks. Greg Chappell, India's coach, highlighted that point. "It is an indication of his ability, of his physical strength, his skills, his mental strength. From a mental point of view, he's one of the toughest cricketers I've met."
Some think that Tendulkar is the greatest Indian batsman ever. Do note that Dravid has a higher average than him.
CUPE Ontario Clobbered
Jun 22, 2006
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has an ad published in the National Post. Here's the one-page PDF.
The Stupid List
Jun 22, 2006
The worst people in America according to right wingers.
Who Needs a Bath?
Jun 22, 2006
"Holy mother of God!" I bet that's what he is thinking.
Truth, Justice and the American Way
Jun 21, 2006
Note: The following might be considered spoiler-ish. Nothing major but if you want to watch the return of Kal-El while knowing as little as possible about the movie, then stop reading now.
Things I am not looking forward to in Superman Returns:
1. "Does he still stand for truth, justice, all that stuff?" I cringed when I heard that. While it is true that Supes is a worldwide personality (I watched the first two movies in Saudi Arabia), that doesn't mean that he is fighting for, or he stands for, some mythical global way (yes, I can see the irony).
He landed and he is living his life in the US. He exudes optimism and he is, no doubt, the most idealistic character in the comics universe. To simply cross out his American connection to appease the foreign America-loathing markets is spineless.
2. Lois pulls a Dowd. Just watch the first five seconds of this clip. It's understandable that Lois is angry at Supes for leaving without any apparent reason but to belittle him is nonsensical. Remember the very first time Supes and Lois met in Richard Donner's masterpiece? This is what would have happened to Lois if the unnecessary savior hadn't been there: SPLAT!
3. Ruining the colors and backpedaling. This is what Supes looks like in the upcoming movie. This is how he should look like. Perhaps, Singer wanted to emphasize a depressing mood--thus the sorry color scheme...but then why are they releasing the following poster?
Perhaps, Supes is into a little subtle variety. Red cape on the weekends, a gray one on weekdays.
Things I am looking forward to in Superman Returns:
1. His relationship with Lois. A man with such latent power still struggles emotionally, painfully and quietly.
And, of course, proving Lois wrong.
2. Spacey and Brando, one-on-one. Enough said.
3. His guidance. How lucky is Kal-El to have Jonathan and Martha Kent as parents? The Kents had a tough job. Imagine raising a kid whose temper tantrum could obliterate an entire neighborhood! They raised him with love and instilled in him the values which he will forever hold.
Then, after Jonathan passed away, he "met" Jor-El. From his Kryptonian father, he learned about his exceptional heritage and then he went on to fulfill his magestic destiny.
For me, the scenes in which Supes interacts with his Earthly and Kryptonian parents are quite special.
4. VFX. It has been almost two decades since a Superman movie came out. Since then, the advances in computing power and VFX wizardry have been phenomenal. No wonder, we're in a golden age of comics-based movies.
All his natural gifts will look spectacular on the big screen. I especially like the grace in his flying. Also, a tiny visual effect to show his breaking the sound barrier is immensely cool.
On June 28, the greatest hero the universe has ever known will return.
A Glorious Piece
Jun 20, 2006
Bryan Singer, John Ottman and some others talk about the using of John Williams' classic main theme and present the recording for Superman Returns.
Quote of the Month
Jun 20, 2006
Ace of Spades via Mean Mr. Mustard:
Is it just me, or is your first reaction after turning on the news and hearing someone say "We must try harder to understand Islam" to wonder, "Oh God, what did they blow up now?"
Not all Values are Equal
Jun 20, 2006
'I came here for Canadian values, not sharia values. I fled Iran on horseback because the values there threatened my very life. If people want to live under sharia or the way they lived back home, let them go back,' she said.
Whoa. It's sad that it takes an immigrant to make this obvious point.
Hail the Hand
Jun 20, 2006
Jeff Goldstein finally speaks about soccer:
... soccer is nothing more than affirmative action for the foot—a sport built around forced equality, “justified,” in the eyes of some, because the foot hasn’t mastered the art of cutting a steak, or pitching a dart, or finding a teenaged girl’s happy place in those two magical hours right after prom.
That happens after prom!? I should have gone to mine.
NOT CRAZY!
Jun 20, 2006
Tim Blair wishes luck to Kos.
The View of Ryerson U
Jun 20, 2006
CBC:
Ryerson University students and faculty members peacefully protested the institute's controversial move to give an honorary degree to McGill University Prof. Margaret Somerville by donning rainbow-coloured stickers and clothes.
The internationally renowned ethicist has said she is in favour of gay rights, but against same-sex marriage. She argues a child's right to have both a mother and father trumps the rights of potential gay parents.
What's the response at the Ryerson Institute of Technology?
Ryerson University President Sheldon Levy said the school might not have offered Somerville the degree if it had known there would be such an angry reaction.
Speaking last week, Levy said although free speech and academic freedom are important, the Somerville case was causing problems.
Wow. I didn't know that only problem-free academic freedom was allowed.
Damian Penny:
I, too, am extremely disappointed in Somerville - not because of her beliefs, but because she didn't...
Click here to find out.
A Simple Template: Blame America
Jun 20, 2006
The bodies of the two captured U.S. soldiers were found in Iraq – bearing signs of “barbaric torture.”
How quaint.
I hope Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo will sleep well tonight, with visions of those boys’ bodies and the horrible barbarities inflicted upon them dancing in their heads. Perhaps Gonzales, and Yoo, and Rumsfeld and Bush will be able to envision the same inhumanities being visited upon their family members and loved ones as they drift off to peaceful slumber.
More idiocy:
We cannot allow this administration and its incomprehensible defense of and support for torture in violation of the “quaint” Geneva Conventions to remain.
The chickens have come home to roost. As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Blame America first. Blame Bush for the actions of the terrorists. Call for the Geneva Convention to be applied to people who haven't signed on to it and to whom it wouldn't apply to anyway, since they're combatants who don't wear uniforms or follow the rules of war.
Precisely.
Update
Clayton Cramer:
I just have one question, for those who subscribe to the moral equivalence argument: When has al-Qaeda or the various Iraqi insurgent groups tried any of their members for murder, instead of promoting them?
Super Straw
Jun 20, 2006
Me: Hi, I purchased your eight-ounce premium carton, the one with the sippy straw attached. I am very dissatisfied.
Jen: I'm sorry to hear about that.
Me: The picture on the carton shows the straw inserted in the side of an orange. I tried it and couldn't get anything out, no matter how hard I sucked.
Bummer.
Test, ODI or Twenty20?
Jun 19, 2006
Someday soon, I must blog about cricket . . .
You do know that that World Cup will begin next year, right?
Whipped!
Jun 19, 2006
After a rude awakening in its debut against Spain last week, Ukraine regained a measure of pride Monday by delivering a similar lesson to Saudi Arabia for its first World Cup victory, 4-0.
Ouch.
The Polio Conspiracy
Jun 19, 2006
Over 10 states in Nigeria have reported new polio cases. 70% of the polio cases in the world are recorded in Nigeria. The surge in polio cases among Nigerians follows last year’s boycott of mass immunisation in predominantly muslim dominated northern Nigeria.
The muslim community in Nigeria argued that the vaccines were impure and would stop Nigerian women from giving birth. They further argued that it was part of the efforts to eliminate islam in Nigeria.
In the past few years, almost the same "logic" has been used in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan.
Link via Democracy Frontline.
See Clearly
Jun 19, 2006
Iman AL-Qahtani writes about apostasy in Islam:
There is no basis for executing an apostate in Islam. It is nothing more than an invention by narrow-minded men.
Later:
Abdul-Rahman's conversion to Christianity and abandonment of Islam is his right, from the perspective of true Islam, which guarantees the right to believe in any faith one wishes.
Final excerpt:
In his book Killing the Apostate, A Crime Forbidden by Islam, writer Mohamed Adlbi points out that The Qur'an states clearly, {There is no compulsion in religion} and that compulsion is unnecessary because {Truth stands out clearly from Error}.
A few points:
1. During the time of Muhammed.
Sahih Bukhari: Volume 9, Book 84, Number 58.
... There was a fettered man beside Abu Muisa. Mu'adh asked, "Who is this (man)?" Abu Muisa said, "He was a Jew and became a Muslim and then reverted back to Judaism." Then Abu Muisa requested Mu'adh to sit down but Mu'adh said, "I will not sit down till he has been killed. This is the judgment of Allah and His Apostle (for such cases) and repeated it thrice. Then Abu Musa ordered that the man be killed, and he was killed....
Perhaps, Mu'adh had been mistaken.
Sahih Bukhari: Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57.
Narrated 'Ikrima:
Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"
'Ikrima had a hearing problem. Honest.
Sahih Bukhari: Volume 9, Book 83, Number 17.
Narrated 'Abdullah:
Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims."
Okay, this is definitely a Jewish conspiracy.
2. Islamic "thinking".
The four major schools of Islamic thought -- Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafi'i -- agree that a Muslim apostate should be put to death. Though, Hanafi does show some mercy for female ex-Muslims: Life in jail.
Link: "Imam Tahawi has provided an interpretation of the Hanafi School in his book Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar as follows":
The lawyers differ among themselves concerning whether or not the person who has apostatized from Islam should be requested to repent. One group says it is much better that the imam (leader) requests the apostate to repent. If he repents, he should be released. Otherwise he should be executed. Imam Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad Rahmatullah are among those who have expressed this opinion. A second group says there is no need to request repentance. For them the condition of the apostate resembles that of the harbi kafir ("the infidel at war").
3. Recent news and events.
January 31, 2005: An article by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross.
... Asia News reported on December 17 that Emad Alaabadi, a Saudi Arabian convert to Christianity, had been taken into custody by Saudi authorities.
Even in Muslim states that don’t officially prohibit conversion out of Islam, the legal system is often used against those who leave the faith. In Egypt, for example, the government refuses to issue new identification papers to converts that reflect their new religion. Without new identification papers, converts’ children must be raised Muslim and the converts have to live their lives as though they were still Muslim. Those who attempt to raise their children in their new faith when their papers list their religion as Islam may be charged with blasphemy.
March 22, 2006: Abdul Rahman, a convert to Christianity, is put in jail.
Rahman, a father of two, was arrested last week and is now awaiting trial for rejecting Islam.
[...]
The Afghan constitution, which is based on Sharia, or Islamic law, says that apostates can receive the death penalty.
March 29, 2006: The view in Pakistan.
A Muslim convert to Christianity in Afghanistan was saved by subterfuge (it was said he was mentally sick and therefore couldn’t be held accountable under any law for converting to Christianity) by the Kabul government from being done to death, triggering protests from the Islamists who wanted him killed. The clerical view in Pakistan that appeared in the press, too, wanted the man killed. Then Pakistan’s top cleric, Mufti Munib ur Rehman, who chairs the moon-sighting committee on Eid days, came on TV and announced that “if a state is truly Islamic” it would have to kill the apostate.
April 10, 2006: An article in The Daily Times.
... state prosecution for conversion out of Islam is relatively rare in Muslim-majority countries, at least 14 such countries considered apostasy a crime, with Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania and Comoros making it punishable by death, said Nina Shea, director of global rights group Freedom House’s centre for religious freedom.
May 25, 2006: Government-approved textbooks in Malaysia.
... under the heading ‘Ways of Dealing with Apostates’ (Cara menangani orang murtad), the following precepts are given:
1. Advise and persuade the offender to repent and return to Islam (menasihati dan memintanya supaya bertaubat dan kembali kepada Islam)
2. To impose a death sentence (melaksanakan hukuman bunuh)
June 15, 2006: Coming full circle. Iman AL-Qahtani.
There is no basis for executing an apostate in Islam. It is nothing more than an invention by narrow-minded men.
Conclusion: One of the following.
A. Muhammed and his companions and the founders of the four major Islamic schools and the governments and regimes of Muslim-majority nations such as Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Mauritania, Comoros, Malaysia, and Egypt are all narrow-minded.
B. Iman AL-Qahtani somehow misses the clear truth.
C. Both A and B.
Put Me Down!
Jun 19, 2006
Emasculating The Next Generation
Jun 18, 2006
The Small Minority on England:
It really is Nerf™land!
Pretty soon, cricket will be banned in England.
I used to play that sport on tarmac with zero protection in Saudi Arabia. Yes, with real cricket balls, not with the sissy taped-tennis-balls. Cracked bones was always a possibility, yet that didn't deter us. Risk is often part of a game. Live it, love it, and learn from it.
The Offensive Ghanians
Jun 18, 2006
"The Ghana team lost many of those Arab supporters who were rooting for them. That was very agitating and turned the feeling of goodwill to resentment."
Will Ghana ever recover from this atrocity?
Oh Allah!
Jun 18, 2006
An important question that deserves an answer:
Dear scholars, As-Salamu `alaykum. I have recently become Muslim. Since I converted I have reformed my ways, for the most part. I think I am a good person except that I am addicted to pornography and masturbation. What is the Islamic remedy for this?
The scholars make a few suggestions, one of which is:
Visualize and meditate on the ugliness of this heinous sin and conjure up images of hell fire as painted in the Qur’an and the Sunnah as many times as possible until such time that whenever you are tempted to visit such websites or read such magazines, the scenes of hell fire will be playing in your mind.
Er, unless you're into that sort of thing.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Link via the micro-blogosphere that is LFG!!! (comment 184: piano gal).
The DVD Killer?
Jun 18, 2006
Blu-Ray players, delayed for some time, should come out next week. Though, you'll have to sell a kidney to get one.
I'm surprised that Sony will release a Blu-Ray player a few months down the road. I thought they would have been the first one to market.
Bush The Entertainer
Jun 17, 2006
Just watch. Link via The Right Place.
Delightful Folks
Jun 17, 2006
Dennis Miller offers his sharp, no-nonsense, take on the Palestinians:
... for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" anymore to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths, until someone points out they're being taped.
Instead, let's call them what they are: "Other Arabs Who Can't Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death." I know that's a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters."
I think it's catchy.
Fiendish Felines
Jun 17, 2006
The most evil of all animals: These cats.
A+ in Coddling
Jun 17, 2006
Soon, everyone will be a valedictorian.
Which is another way of saying that no-one will be.
High Burger Prices--Smokers Hardest Hit
Jun 17, 2006
Investigate Reality
Jun 17, 2006
The Iranian Thug-in-Chief talks about the Holocaust:
We want to know whether this crime really happened or not. If so, then those responsible should be punished and not the Palestinians ... If it didn't happen, then the Jews have to go back where they came from,' he was quoted as saying.
Two questions:
- The Palestinians are being punished for the Holocaust?
- More than half a million Jews from the Middle East migrated to Israel after her creation in 1948. Will the Muslim-majority nations welcome the Jews back? (Don't worry, I know the answer.)
Link via AbbaGav.
Freak Show Central
Jun 17, 2006
A humorous story from the Greatest City on EarthTM.
11 Days Left
Jun 17, 2006
IGN has a few clips from Superman Returns. I liked the touching scene between Clark and Martha: "I Thought I Would Never See You Again".
Behind the Gates of Mordor
Jun 16, 2006
Umar Lee writes:
Another friend of mine, a Palestinian, told me that at his school in the KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] non-Saudi boys were raped and that they were beaten by Saudi boys and if they tried to fight back they would be punished by the schools who would take the side of the Saudi.
Note, that this isn't merely a case of a few rotten apples--the overall society itself treats non-Saudis with contempt. I lived in Saudi Arabia for over a decade and afterwards I went to school in the US for a couple of years. I chatted with more Americans in any 10-day period in the US than I did previously with the Saudis in over 10 years.
It's ironic that an entire spectrum of dim Muslims whine about racism, discrimination and mistreatment in the West while simultaneously praising, and often adopting, the heinous Saudi / Wahabbi ways.
Read this comment for more info on that closed and wretched society.
Bottom-Up
Jun 16, 2006
Cicero makes an excellent point about Zarqawi:
This man is now in the rarified company of Hitler, Tojo and Saddam on the cover of Time Magazine. How far we've come.
The Equal Distribution of Misery
Jun 16, 2006
Fascinating photos of an atrocious economic system.
Link via Chicago Boyz.
No Respite for Taslima
Jun 16, 2006
Western Resistance has a post about Taslima Nasreem:
On September 12, 1994 she gave an interview to the New Yorker, in which she said: "Why shouldn't I write about what I've seen? I'm a doctor, remember! Do you know what's it like to see a woman crying out in the delivery room when she gives birth to a girl, terrified that her husband will divorce her? To see the ruptured vaginas of women who've been raped? The six and seven year olds who have been violated by their fathers, brothers and uncles - by their own families? No, I will not keep quiet. I will continue to speak out about these women's wretched lives."
Of course, this courageous Bangladeshi author has a bounty on her head.
Taslima fled to Sweden in 1994, after a state court ordered that she should be detained for writing the "anti-Islamic" statements contained in her work, where she discussed the plight of Hindus and women and even argued that sex outside of marriage was defensible.
Shudder the thought.
Taslima is one of the twelve signers of the Manifesto Against Islamist Totalitarianism. She is currently in India where she is being harassed by Muslims who want her deported.
Indecent Exposure
Jun 16, 2006
Like, totally sloshed.
Does Allah Approve?
Jun 15, 2006
What are the chances of viewing this art in a Muslim household?
You Are What You Eat?
Jun 15, 2006
There has been a discussion going on lately at various blogs ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5]) about Muslims and attitudes to ethnic foods, specifically the belief of some converts that they have to give up their "western" food and adopt Arab or Pakistani cuisines. Although this is a mistaken belief with no basis to it, it is a quite sincerely-held one and people should not be laughed at for thinking this way.
During my first year in university, I came across a Muslim girl who was chatting on the phone. She was talking to her younger sister. Like a good Muslima, this girl was telling the little sis about neutralizing the smell of alcohol on her breath. Wouldn't want Abu and Ammi to know, now would we.
A few days later in the cafeteria, this same gal was pontificating about her order. A guy standing next to her said, "Try the beef burger, it's good."
She refused by saying, "It's not halaal."
I almost burst out laughing.
A Harem Is Not Haram
Jun 15, 2006
You see, it's an Islamic custom to have sex slaves. Robert Spencer responds:
If that's a Saudi Arabian custom, the American response should be the same as that of Charles James Napier, British Commander-In-Chief in India in the 19th century, when an Indian told him that sati was an Indian custom: "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
The daughter of the Arab on trial is not happy. Robert replies:
Why your dad? Why your family? Well, see, we don't have slavery in the United States. Yes, people can get quite mean about it, but you have to understand that your father needs to take responsibility for being so mean himself to the housemaid.
Do read it all. The alleged slave owner is getting quite a few blessings from the Muslim community.
An Islamist Socialist Speaks
Jun 15, 2006
Suhaib Jobst, a charming fellow, left a couple of comments earlier today in this post. Gems from the first one:
I am a Muslim who has seen the truth about the jewish lies, and has realized Qur'an and Sunnah provides a perfect testament against the nature of your people.
My people? (Cue Deliver Us from The Prince of Egypt.)
You can spout your propaganda all you want, but to me you will always be a filthy jew kike Zionist scum-sucker.
Close. I'm a filthy ex-Muslim Zionist scum-sucker. Thank you very much.
After a delayed synaptic response, he writes in his second comment:
... why did I call you - a Kafir Murtad - a "filthy jew kike Zionist scum-sucker"? Because you are in the same category. Because you have become one of them and hence you deserve to suffer their same fate. Look, you're even beginning to use a kike name!
That will come as a surprise to Erwin Schrödinger who was born to a Catholic father and a Lutheran mother.
How utterly lame.
Beginning of the End for CRTs
Jun 15, 2006
This is something we'd thought would happen eventually, but not this soon. eCinema Systems announced that they've developed an LCD that surpasses CRT display quality, and is planning to launch it it by Q4 of this year.
Sweet.
Desi Clothing
Jun 15, 2006
Oh Canada
Jun 14, 2006
Mezba:
"You should go to Bangladesh and marry someone there," advised a rather pompous uncle. "Girls here are too modern."
I wonder what his uncle meant by "modern".
Anyway, Mezba provides his own take.
Clowns of the Day
Jun 14, 2006
Aussie Dave hands out well-deserved awards to some diverse recipients.
The Last Son of Krypton Returns
Jun 14, 2006
Just two weeks left! Here's the eighth TV spot.
If you want more, then just take a look here.
Mountain Thrust
Jun 14, 2006
Fierce battles killed at least 30 people across Afghanistan on Wednesday as the U.S.-led coalition readied to launch its largest anti-Taliban offensive since the Islamic extremist government's 2001 ouster.
Dang.
Limited operations began May 15 with attacks on Taliban command and control and support networks. According to U.S. military and Afghan figures, about 550 people, mostly militants, have been killed since mid-May, along with at least nine coalition troops.
That's an impressive kill-ratio.
The operation will involve about 2,300 U.S. conventional and special forces, 3,300 British troops, 2,200 Canadians, about 3,500 Afghan soldiers and coalition air support, said Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, U.S. operational commander in Afghanistan.
That's surprising: The Brits outnumber the Americans.
The last word goes to Celestial Junk:
Afghanistan is a quagmire; a quagmire for the Taliban.
Letting Go of Principles
Jun 14, 2006
Greg Mankiw posts about the minimum wage:
Some Republicans in Congress are apparently worried about the midterm elections. They are so worried, they are starting to vote like Democrats.
That has been happening for some time now.
Distilled Evil
Jun 14, 2006
Several months ago I wrote a refutation to an “Aryan” Muslim named Suhaib Jobst, based out of Britain I believe, and the mindset of some who seek to create an alliance between Muslims and far-right racialist groups.
Umar Lee got a response from the Aryan. A chilling excerpt:
I myself have never regarded anyone as being inferior to me, solely because of their race or ethnicity. The "superior" would be those individuals - FROM EVERY RACE - who conduct themselves with honor, nobility and dignity, and who uphold the values of Tradition...in this era where materialist decadence and selfish individualism prevails. The most noble are those who are Muslims, i.e. submit themselves to Allah (Subhanahu wa-Ta'ala).
As for my ideology, I am not inspired by either Hizb ut-Tahrir or Ikhwaan al-Muslimeen. Rather I oppose their compromise of Islamic principles, straying from their original conception. I hold fast to the Salafi Jihadi understanding of Islam, which affirms Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah, opposes the Kaafir Murtad Tawaghut rulers, and believes in Jihad.
Lovely. National Socialism has morphed into Islamist Socialism. It seems the open loathing of Jews is the unifying force.
Where are the Kids?
Jun 14, 2006
Well, ever since I got married I’ve CONSTANTLY, INCESSANTLY gotten the “Are you pregnant yet?” question followed by “Don’t worry, Inshallah you will bring a boy soon.” “Don’t worry, Allah Kareem.” “Don’t worry, my sister/cousin/female whoever conceived after 5 years of marriage.” “Are your periods regular?” “Have you seen a doctor, there are many good ones here,” and my favorite, “It is getting late for you.”
So nosy.
The Curse of the Foot
Jun 14, 2006
"Don't put the soles of your shoes towards God," that's what my parents used to tell me when they found an upside down shoe in my room. I am not sure if parents in the west say they same thing to their kids but nearly all parents do so here.
Some years ago, I was sitting on a sofa and watching the news in Saudi Arabia. I put my left leg on my right knee and a few seconds later heard a tsk tsk tsk. It was my mom who was sitting to my right. I had the sole of my left foot towards her. I sheepishly put the foot back on the carpet.
To hit someone with a shoe is quite an insult in that part of the world. Corporal punishment was the norm in my Pakistani school. Teachers would hit a student with their hands or a stick and the rest of the class would remain dead silent. Though, audible gasps would be heard if the teacher used his shoe to beat a student.
Contempt.
That's why Saddam got this barrage in April 2003.
