Locally...

This is going up first. I'm not even sure I should be blogging on it. Quite frankly, I am surprised it was published in the paper. There, surely, is more to this than has been published, and I will admit to not having read any of the "15 recently published reports from international organizations, all on Saudi women." If I knew what international organizations wrote the reports, perhaps I could find them to read and could then formulate some educated commentary, but since that teeny tiny tidbit of information is missing, I can't. The gist of it, though, is that apparently these reports are "making demands that conflict with Islamic laws and [are] attempting to impose foreign ways on the rest of the world." If anyone knows what reports - 15 recently published ones - are being referred to, please enlighten me. Supposedly the reports are "calling for freedom of sexual relations as a woman's basic right, and the use of the word 'gender' as a substitution for the term 'sex,' nullifying the concept of male and female." Sounds like something that could only come from some hard-core group with firmly established roots in San Francisco, because "They make demands for the recognition of homosexual relationships of all types..." Of course, there is much more to it than that, whoever published the reports wants "a limitation on the number of children and the rejection of child-marriage" along with an "end [to] the social dependence of women and girls and the guardianship of fathers and the custodianship of men over women." Imagine that! Naturally, any comparison of treating women the way women are treated in the wicked West is going to be shunned. "...the greatest danger in these demands is that they try to make people follow the thinking of extremist Western feminist movements..." Hard to imagine since we see so little evidence of NOW or any of the "extremist Western feminist movements" giving even a mere iota of concern as to how women in other parts of the world are being treated in any main stream media report.

The verdict given in the first Internet crime brought to court in the Kingdom is being upheld. And, of course, it involves blackmail and photos. Guys, guys, guys... If you are not getting the message by now then you deserve the punishment. Lashes, jail time and a fine.

Tires. Only good tires can prevent PCRC. Motorists are being urged to ensure safety of their tires. Yep. That is going to make all the difference in the world when it comes to preventing PCRC. "An increasing number of car crashes in the Kingdom in the past 10 years have been caused by tire blowouts." No mention of the fact that the number of cars has increased dramatically in the last ten years. No mention of that fact that so many drivers [like, the majority of them!] are not willing to follow the most basic road rules and no mention of the fact that Traffic Police are not allowed to do their jobs. "Poor quality tires, especially used ones, can be a real threat to lives as they are the cause of a huge number of accidents." Blame it all on bad tires.

This is not the first time babies have been held as collateral in a hospital until the bill can be paid. You and the wife go to the hospital to have a baby - you have no money - the baby [or in this case, babies] are born and you cannot take them until the bill is paid. Move to California. You can have eight babies at once and Medicaid will pick up the tab.

An article on blood money, is here. Eighteen paragraphs. The most telling is the final one: "In the case of a death in a traffic accident, the amount is SR100,000 for a Muslim man and SR50,000 for a Muslim woman." Wonder if this was included in any of the studies on Saudi women and "equal rights?"