11.5 Lashing Per Week

For stealing a car and some sheep. Oh, and along with those 6,000 lashes, the 27-year-old unidentified man will be spending ten years in prison. Doing some quick math: 6,000 lashes over ten years is 600 per year, 50 per month, 11.5 per week or 1.64 per day. Guessing the man, whoever he is, will never steal so much as a sideways glance at someone ever again for the rest of his life. "The accused described the sentence as 'harsh' claiming that his confession was made under duress." No way! Say it's not true... It would be interesting to find out at least what nationality he is. Lately the papers have been pretty good about identifying either by name or by nationality the deviants of society. Not in this case, though.

Speaking of deviants. Eleven men, suspected of having ties to Al-Qaeda have been arrested. I am thankful that authorities in The Sandbox are cognizant of the dangers that exist, insofar as there really are men out there who want to harm people no matter who they are or where they are. The security forces here, whoever they may be - police, etc., deserve some praise for doing what they do to keep the rest of us safe. Your efforts are appreciated!

The three men who were beheaded yesterday were all Pakistanis who were accused of murdering another Pakistani when they "kidnapped" him, "took him out to a deserted area," and "struck him on the head with a stone until he died" all for some money and gold. Worthless, senseless crime.

The NSHR [National Society for Human Rights] held a seminar to convince the powers that be that a ban on smoking in public places should be implemented. Yeah. Let us know how that works out for you. It is never going to happen in this part of the world. A "No Smoking" sign simply encourages men to light-up. Men, not women. Women seem to be much more inclined to be discreet as smokers here in The Sandbox.