Pastor “apologizes”
This story is from yesterday’s Arab Times. I am putting in the whole thing because of what is missing:
A US pastor accused of beating his televangelist wife Joanita Bynum has apologized to all Christians over a case that could see him imprisoned for up to 27 years.
In a statement issued through his lawyers Wednesday, Thomas W. Weeks III, 40, apologized to Christians, his church family and others “having to endure this ordeal.”
Weeks, known to his followers as Bishop Weeks, is accused of beating, stomping, choking and threatening to kill his gospel singer wife during an August 21 argument outside a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been indicted on felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from the alleged attack.
“Because of the method in which this was handled just hours following the situation, it has not only hurt me, but has damaged the reputation of Christians around the world,” Weeks said.
“It is for this reason that I continue to trust in God while the storm would try to engulf me. Finally, I’m asking every Christian to pray that God’s will be done.”
In his statement, Weeks, the pastor and co-founder of Global Destiny Ministries, also cautioned against rushing to judgement in the case, and said he would give his side of what happened at the appropriate time.
This article makes my blood boil.
He apologizes to everyone – EXCEPT to his wife, whom he beat, stomped, choked and threatened to kill.
This is typical of the cowardly kind of bully who beats up on those smaller than he is and tries to make them believe that it is THEIR FAULT, that they drive him to these vicious rages by . . . oh who knows . . . a tone of voice, a step too loud, one of the kids gets a bad grade. It is always everyone else’s fault, and he is quick to kick the nearest victim, usually his wife. And the saddest thing of all, is that the wife, and sometimes the kids, buy into this jerk’s reasoning. “You made me do it.”
“You made me blacken your eye. You made me break your arm. You made me push you down the stairs. You made me drink. You enraged me. It’s all YOUR fault.”
If you are one of those cowardly, contemptible bullies reading this, I have nothing but scorn for you.
I hope this guys wife leaves him and never looks back. Of course, the problem is, he is one of those self-absorbed imbeciles who might feel she is his property, and might decide to kill her for leaving him. Still, even a moment’s freedom from this abusive lout’s controlling rages is better than another minute in his presence.
In the last line, he says he will give his side in time – yeh, when he can figure out how to present it so that HE is the victim, and his beaten wife the bad guy. I am not going to hold my breath.
Rape in Kuwait (2)
There seem to be some misconceptions running around about rape in Kuwait. One misconception is that Kuwaitis commit a lot of rape. If you read the newspapers, however, you will discover that a lot of the rapes committed are nationality on nationality, for example, one senior Phillipina lady will befriend an unhappy domestic worker, will “help” her get away, and the domestic finds herself abducted, gang raped and in sexual slavery. That’s one common story.
Domestics of all nationalities are abducted off the streets, taken to apartments or villas, raped repeatedly by two or more men, and then dropped off on the street (or dropped off a balcony). People don’t seem to be very concerned about domestic servants being people here, having the right NOT to be raped, it sort of seems like business as usual, no matter who is raped or doing the raping. I have yet to read of one single case being prosecuted or sentenced in the Kuwait newspapers, but maybe I missed a day or two.
Another common story is Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani on Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani, and that can be men abducting/raping men, or men abducting/raping women. Some of these women are also recruited into prostitution, and are found when the police raid the dens of iniquity, catching the men and men or men and women in “uncompromising” positions, or, even better – RED HANDED!
There is a whole catagory of abductions – Kuwaiti, Bedoun or other Gulf or Arab nationality where a man or woman, or men or women, is/are abducted and taken to camps in the desert and raped multiple times. Sometimes they are left naked by the side of the road. Sometimes their dead bodies are found, and occasionally enough clues to guess at the identity of the abductors/rapists.
Then there are the men that rape children. It can be within a family. It can be within a building. It can be within a neighborhood. Many times the child knows the rapist, and is told that if they say anything, the rapist will kill or harm the child’s parents. There was an epidemic of child rape in Hawali, and although the man arrested cries “I didn’t do it!” the fact is that the epidemic of rape in Hawali has stopped. That doesn’t mean that children aren’t being raped, it just means that the Hawali Monster seems to be off the streets of Hawali.
Objectively, if there can be said to be a “good” thing about rape in Kuwait, it is that so few of them are fatal.
What can, accurately, be said about Kuwait is that there seems to be a lot of rape. If you think I exaggerate, I challenge you to read the Kuwait papers every day for a month.
When there is a lot of rape, it means there is a social, legal and political climate that tolerates rape. It means that rape cases are not handled with a lot of attention to gathering evidence. It means that men and women are not encouraged to persue rape charges. It means that the police are not very interested in investigating accusations of rape. It means that the legal system is not very interested in prosecuting rape. It means that the rape victims are not valued highly enough to deserve not to be raped.
Rape happens everywhere. Rape happens in wars, rape happens on the streets. In most places, we are taught, rape isn’t about sex as much as it is about power. Here, in Kuwait, I am inclined to think it may be a little bit of both.
I’ve worked with rape victims in several different locations. Working with the victims gives you so much admiration for women, what they endure, what they survive, and their deeply ingrained sense of priorities and self. You’d think the experience would be devastating, but the women who have experienced rape and overcome it have been anything but devastated – many of them become truly awesome individuals, literally, awe-inspiring. They refuse to be victims. They carry on with their lives. They accomplish. They let their anger fuel and energize them to become incredibly accomplished individuals. It isn’t surprising – wealth and accomplishment also give you additional protection against it ever happening again.
There is another tragedy in Kuwait – male rapes. When men rape another men, like in prison, it is very much a power thing. Me big – you little. Me do what I want with you. Most of the victims I have met, or heard about are young teens. Being raped by a bigger, older male really skews their lives. They begin to question what it was about themself that got them raped, they question whether maybe they are gay and don’t know it, they ask, over and over – Why ME? Young men who were good at school start getting bad grades, they can’t concentrate, they often turn to drugs.
Being forced to have sex, whether you are man, woman, or child, is wrong. And doing nothing to stop this epidemic is also wrong. To look the other way is wrong. To say it isn’t happening is wrong. To become so used to it that your heart becomes calloused is just plain wrong.
I know most of the time my blog is a nice place to visit, and these entries make you uncomfortable. I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. I myself am so uncomfortable that, as Martin Luther said (only he said it in German) “I cannot other. God help me.”
The Big Test
Sure, having a three day weekend is a GREAT way to introduce a change . . . kind of like “let them eat cake!” But today and tomorrow are the real tests. Today is the first day that is not a half day off / beginning of weekend, and tomorrow is a WORKING Thursday for Kuwaitis – let the grumbling begin!
Change is always disruptive. A year from now, it will all be comfortable, but it will take some time to get used to the new way of doing things. Businesses who deal with the outside world will have more days in common. I believe that Saudi Arabia and Oman are the only ones still on the Thursday – Friday weekend.
In truth, it has no effect on us. Adventure Man takes Friday for his day off and works the other six days – nothing changes. When he is around, I drop my work and spend time with him.
But this weekend is going to be the BIG adjustment.
(For my non-Kuwait friends, we have had a serious drop in temperatures – at 8 in the morning, it is only 88°, not the 100 degrees of earlier in the week. The expected high for today, though is a cool Fall September 114° F/ 46° C.)
Sex Education Trouble in India
This is from yesterday’s BBC News Asia
(Every country had differences on whether sex education should be taught in the classroom, and if it should be taught, how it should be taught. Our current political administration paid a lot of money to support an abstinence campaign, which proved a failure. So how do we best protect our young?)
Sex education runs into trouble
The Indian government’s recent attempt to introduce sex education for school children has provoked a vigorous debate. In the second of two articles, the BBC’s Jyotsna Singh considers the case against a more open discussion of sex in schools.
The decision to introduce sex education in India’s schools, aimed primarily at creating awareness about HIV-Aids, has generated howls of protests from many quarters.
Many women’s organisations and religious groups as well as several politicians say exposing children to an open debate on the subject, specially in classrooms, will make them “more permissive”.
More than 30% of Indian states have rejected the federal government-supported sex education programme.
The Secondary School Teachers’ Association in Uttar Pradesh state has even threatened to make a bonfire of books if sex education isn’t withdrawn immediately.
Several teachers and student groups have objected to the teaching aid or kit to be used for educating the pupils in the class.
One of the main objects that has drawn the ire of the protestors is a flip chart, prepared jointly by the Unicef and government-controlled National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) to facilitate the government’s adolescent education programme.
‘Too graphic’
The chart, entitled “Knowledge is Power”, contains illustrations and images dealing with issues related to growing up and relationships in the context of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/Aids.
The chart also contains a chapter on essential skills needed to prevent the disease.
But protesters say the visuals in the chart are too “graphic”.
The right-wing Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) blames “a Western mindset behind the move”.
“We run about 26,000 schools across the country. Our teachers have studied the curriculum and they find it obscene and objectionable,” RSS spokesman Ram Madhav told the BBC.
“The whole curriculum is designed to suit the lifestyle in Western countries, where there is a general free atmosphere. In our country we live with families.”
You can read the rest of this article HERE.
Back it Up! #1
It’s easy to get discouraged when bad news strikes, and especially when a lot of bad news strikes at once.
In the midst of the Turkish blogging blockage, and in the midst of the Kuwait blogger crisis, the heavens open and a great light brightens the whole day:
I guess the Kuwait Times didn’t think this story was important enough to put it online, but in Sunday’s Kuwait Times (August 19), page 5, there are two photos of ARLA Food staff members helping out the 1,300 Bangladeshi workers who have been in on strike trying to get paid and to get decent, reliable living conditions.
Now this is what I call backing it up – they show up with food, AND they donate a refrigerator to keep the cold food cold. (I hope there is someplace the workers can plug the refrigerator in!)
“The Arla Food staff members were accompanied by Reverend Andy Thompson, who oversaw the distribution of the aid.”
I know the good Reverend Andy Thompson. He is passionate about his faith, and he lives his faith. He is appalled that we can become so callous, so hard hearted about the conditions of these workers, the poorest of the poor, earning KD20 a month, and trying to live, eat and send money home on those wages – when they get paid.
But Andy Thompson is doing something about it. Working with other committed local citizens, he is working on the most basic level to make sure these workers are getting food to eat, while at the same time trying to find some way to make sure these workers get their lawful rights.
I read the Qur’an, but I am not very good at remembering where I read what I remember. I remember a verse about being sure the sweat has not dried on the laboror’s back before you pay him. How can an employer not pay his employees?
Bless you, ARLA Food staff members, for your generous donation, and your caring service to these workers, and bless you, Father Andy, and prosper the work of your hands!
Shrimping Season Begins
Did you miss it? The Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources announced the beginning of the shrimp fishing season August 15th, upon the expiry of the seven month ban, from January 15 – August 15.
I checked the fish markets yesterday, and didn’t see any Kuwaiti shrimp, only Saudi farmed shrimp (which is also good, but farmed); I expect we will be seeing the good Kuwaiti shrimp soon. Oh, I have been missing Kuwaiti shrimp!
U.S. Taxes, a Poem
None of the following is original. Many thanks to a dear friend who forwards me these gems from time to time. I have never seen this one before:
At first I thought this was funny…then I realized
the awful truth of it.
Be sure to read all the way to the end!
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries, then
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers,
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin ,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid.
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
” Taxes drove me to my doom…”
When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,
And our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest
middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to
raise the kids.
What the hell happened? Can you spell “politicians!”
And I still have to “press 1”
For English.
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times
This last year, they changed the way they charge taxes to ex-pats. It has made a HUGE difference in the amounts we owe every year. We now owe more in taxes than we made in the early years of our marriage! Aaarrgh!
If we believe our taxes are truly working for the greater good, we don’t mind so much. Faced with the crumbling infrastructure in our country, we shouldn’t see things like the failure of the levees in Louisiana, the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota, the degradation of our clean water programs in many states as our infrastructure ages. We should, for the taxes we pay, have a world class medical program available for all citizens, but especially the oldest and the youngest, the most vulnerable citizens.
Those who talk the most about bringing God back into our politics are often the ones who complain the most about money wasted on immigrant programs, public health and safety programs, tax monies collected for schools, for rehabilitation programs. Jesus would weep in frustration.
Hospitals Party Hearty?
I am telling you, as I tell my own family – if I am sick enough to go to a hospital, please, please, don’t come hang out with me in the hospital.
It happened to me once. I was suffering terribly, and I was very very dangerously ill. Suddenly, around my bed, were about 15 members of my family with deely-bobbers on their heads, in the emergency room, all coming to see how I was doing.
It was my Mom’s birthday then, too, and they had been celebrating, and felt sorry for me, and came so I wouldn’t feel left out.
I wasn’t feeling left out. I was in hideous pain. And the last thing on earth I wanted was to be polite to anyone, to be social. I was in PAIN.
But I also understand that other people feel differently. Some people like the support. Some hospitals – you really need to have an advocate watching out for you, so that you don’t get the wrong medications or the wrong treatment. No, I am not talking about Kuwait. It can happen anywhere, and it does!
And my dear friends in Qatar told me that if you go to visit a sick friend in a hospital ONE THOUSAND angels will pray for you, and while I don’t have that in writing, I like the idea.
So I have come to the conclusion, for myself, it is a good idea to have one very quiet trustworthy person at your bedside, someone who can read, and entertain him or herself, and will love you even at your very worst and not expect you to be polite.
How do you feel? What constitutes appropriate visiting in a hospital? How closely related do you want your visitors to be? Do you want a party atmosphere?
This is from today’s Kuwait Times.
KUWAIT: The medical care and hygiene in most of the public hospitals is dangerously below standard. Not only do nurses suffer from unfair treatment and low wages, but patients face a range of unpleasantness – none of it due to medical reasons – during their stays. Many patients and even nurses are complaining that hospitals have turned into restaurants, a party place and sometimes a garden or kids’ playground for the visiting families of patients.
Reda is a doctor in Sabah hospital who deals daily with the parties of visitors who come at all hours of the day, stay for long periods, bringing with them picnics and ice cream and toys for the kids. She says that visitors are selfish and forget the fact that they are in a hospital and that patients need quiet and time to rest. “These visitors don’t respect the visiting hours, they act as if they are in a hotel rather than a hospitals,” she noted.
An Egyptian patient in his early 50s currently hospitalized in Ibn Sina said “I can’t even sleep from the noise in the corridors. The room next to mine is always full of visitors all the time. The visitors bring their children along with them. The kids are very disturbing and they keep opening the door of my room and don’t let me rest.
You can read the rest of the article at this Kuwait Times link.
Comment Section Closed, Wooo Hoooo
I have had some problems with one particular spammer targeting one particular entry on my blog. Really nasty stuff, it offends me. I clear it out almost as quickly as they send it, but it is ANNOYING.
WordPress is so cool. I went into edit, and turned off “allow comments.” It allowed all the original comments, but has a cheery message now:
“Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time”
*Dancing at a stinging blow against spammers*
Stealing Kuwait’s Telephone Resources?
From the August 6 Arab Times:
(Once again, the government is getting tough on crime. The 23rd richest country in the world is worried about losing the revenue from poor Indians calling home and people using the internet to call their friends and family:)
KUWAIT CITY: Four government bodies — the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Communications, Kuwait Municipality and General Customs Department — have agreed to launch a joint inspection campaign against all illegal international call operators, reports Al-Jareeda daily. Reportedly, they obtained permission from the Public Prosecution to raid all suspected houses and shops conducting such illegal operations and arrest all those involved in the trade. They will also issue citations to people who illegally obtain a landline connection. According to sources, stealing international telephone lines amounts to stealing public funds and culprits will be suitably punished. A security committee too has been formed to follow-up and investigate all such thefts.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communications is planning to engage international companies to study and find ways to overcome illegal calling through internet. Kuwait considers such internet facilities an infringement of its resources and intends to safeguard its rights. In another development, sources say Kuwait will become the first country to have fully installed the optic fiber communication network. Government had earmarked a budget of KD 36 million for the first phase and another KD 80 million for the second phase of the project. Also, telephone connections will be available by next year in three new areas — Ashbiliya, Sabah Al-Naser and Abdullah Al-Mubarak areas.
Meanwhile, Director General of General Customs Department Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Ghanim says his department has been foiling all attempts to smuggle equipments used for stealing telephone lines.
Reportedly, the Ministry of Communications earlier showed department officials the kind of equipment needed to steal telephone lines and “the department has been working hard to foil all smuggling attempts,” he added.
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