What's wrong with these soccer highlights?

"They who say that women do not desire the right of suffrage, that they prefer masculine domination to self-government, falsify every page of history, every fact in human experience. It has taken the whole power of the civil and canon law to hold woman in the subordinate position which it is said she willingly accepts."

-- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

So, before I left to mosey on up to my second job, the Prince Consort and I were watching the end of Arsenal giving quite the spanking to Crystal Palace. I bet GOPgoddess is thrilled today! Yup, let's get them all worn out and lull them into a false sense of ease for the match with Sheffield United this weekend. Hee...hee... Go Blades!

Where was I... okay, so the game ends and, after some commercials, the "new and improved" Fox Soccer Channel shows some highlights from a game between al Hilal vs. al Illifaq in the Saudi Arabia Football League. Pretty cool. Sami Al-Jaber of al Hilal made a hat trick, helping al Halil crush al Illifaq. Excellent, I think as I hear the chants from the crowd of "SAMI...SAMI...SAMI" ... Wait a minute... I then actually take a look at the crowd. Something is off, but I can't put my finger on it... and then it hits me... There are no women in the crowd... There are no women in the crowd... There are NO WOMEN in the crowd.

I can feel the slow burn start. *GGRRR* That FN' sucks. These are the type of events that stir my consciousness. Everyone, ESPECIALLY all women of the Free World, need to remember that there is still oppression abroad. A couple of nukes our way from the nut jobs and we are propelled back into the pre-19th amendment age. We'll be at that loom weaving our boushiyas before you can say Susan B. Anthony. This was one of the reasons that I staunchly support our being bad asses in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Time passes and it goes to the back of my mind that not too long ago, women in Afghanistan were stripped of their rights by the Taliban. No voting, no careers as doctors or any professional, no education. Hey, that Burqa is sexy! WooHoo... Complete suppression. In Iraq, not so long ago, thankfully rape rooms were closed and Sadaam's lovely son Uday (Thank God ... and the coalition forces) is no longer dragging women and pubescent girls off the street to beat, rape, and sometimes kill as was his lovely practice. Chattel ... a nice, creepy word.

Honor killings still go on throughout the Middle East. It is chilling the life of a woman there. We are so removed from it that we forget.

"It's a different culture ... we shouldn't get involved ... we shouldn't force our way of life on them". That is isolationist bullshit. I always think that everyone MUST imagine themselves in their shoes. Wouldn't you want to be liberated? Wouldn't you want to be saved? Even if you didn't know the difference, wouldn't you want to be given the choice?

I shouldn't give all of the rap to the Middle East... let's spread it around to Africa and Bosnia/Croatia. Extremists and Dictators trying to cleanse a race through rape and genocide.

Nobody had a problem cleaning up the Kosovo debacle, but are outraged in our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan? What is up with that? What makes a Croatian life more worthy than an Iraqi or Afghani life ... or for that matter a Nigerian, Rwandan, or Sudanese life? Explain this to Robina Muqimyar and Amina Lawal.

Robina Muqimyar	Amina Lawal

It seems now that we are getting more involved in the African problem and I hope that we don't stop there. This madness has to end.

*DEEP BREATH* Where I work, they are having a "Peace Vigil" on Thursday in the city to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the first protest against the invasion of Iraq. All are welcome they say. Bring your own sign if you like. Of course, as you know, Peace through superior fire power works for me, but I think we need a Protest Warrior contingent in the city to help with their vigil. Some of their signs are as follows:



If we have to be fosterers of Freedom and end subjugation, then so be it. It is imperative that everybody from the Free World hop on the Liberation Life Boat.

Even if they don't ... "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges"

Stay cool and safe!