Terrorism That’s Personal »
Posted By bizexpert 7 months ago in News
Terrorism in this part of the world usually means bombs exploding or hotels burning, as the latest horrific scenes from Mumbai attest. Yet alongside the brutal public terrorism that fills the television screens, there is an equally cruel form of terrorism that gets almost no attention and thrives as a result: flinging acid on a woman’s face to leave her hideously deformed.
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humemacdonald7 months ago
Although I have read about this abhorrent practice in the news, I have never seen photos of any of the victims. I gasped when I saw the cover photo. Sorrow and rage seem to converge in me. I hope Biden is able to help pressure these countries to uphold human rights for women.
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"Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies: they are poor and female. The first step is simply for the world to take note, to give voice to these women".
I hope everyone who reads this article passes it on to others.-
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hyperbola7 months ago
Here is another article that should be passed along by those who are interested in women's rights.
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Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977.
RAWA communiqué on Universal Human Rights Day, Dec.10, 2007
The US and Her Fundamentalist Stooges are
the Main Human Rights Violators in Afghanistan
The US and her allies tried to legitimize their military occupation of Afghanistan under the banner of “bringing freedom and democracy for Afghan people”. But as we have experienced in the past three decades, in regard to the fate of our people, the US government first of all considers her own political and economic interests and has empowered and equipped the most traitorous, anti-democratic, misogynist and corrupt fundamentalist gangs in Afghanistan. ...
... If the US government replaces Karzai with a new puppet, even if he is not from among the Jehadi criminals, it will be just a deception of our people and an attempt to put the responsibilities of today’s tragedies on the shoulders of a single person. Such a move will have no positive outcome for our nation. Only a president who rely on people and come to power through a fair election, free from any kind of dependence or dealings with the fundamentalists, would be ideal for Afghan people.
Instead of defeating Al-Qaeda, Taliban and Gulbuddini terrorists and disarming the Northern Alliance, the foreign troops are creating confusion among the people of the world. We believe that if these troops leave Afghanistan, our people will not feel any kind of vacuum but rather will become more free and come out of their current puzzlement and doubts. In such a situation, they will face the Taliban and Northern Alliance without their “national” mask, and rise to fight with these terrorist enemies. Neither the US nor any other power wants to release Afghan people from the fetters of the fundamentalists. Afghanistan’s freedom can be achieved by Afghan people themselves....
http://www.rawa.org/events/dec10-07_e.htm
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humemacdonald7 months ago
I agree that the change must come from within, but world pressure might convince these countries to start with the easy things like controlling the sale of acid, and actually prosecuting the perpetrators.
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Money donated to start a legal fund for these women wouldn't hurt either. At least they would have the option of bringing these animals to justice.
I know organizations like Plan and Unicef often conduct public education campaigns on the rights of children, so why not extend public education campaigns to the rights of women. As a bonus it has been shown that when women are educated and allowed the freedom to fully participate in society the health and well being of that countries children raises exponentially.
This just breaks my heart. I can't believe that anyone could do this to their spouse, or anyone for that matter. What cowards these men are.
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cowboygrandpa7 months ago
There is a way to stop it. Do the same thing to those who do it !!!
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That is just justice nothing less nothing more.
If the cowards who do these things have to face the same horrific consequences they will think twice before doing them !!!!
They wouldn't want me to find them doing that, where I would pour the acid on them would leave them writhing in pure angony and living in shame. That is not a man that does that, but a coward who is but an animal in a mans body.
Then I would pour it upon their face.
I'm so sorry for these women. I'm sorry they don't have real men in their lives. They have allowed the vermin of the earth to do as they will !!!!-
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KISA452a7 months ago
Sadly, I believe you would do the same to them. After reading you for a while, I continue to see that you are psychotic. You certainly seem the sort from your other posts to pour acid on people you don't like.
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hyperbola7 months ago
Well grandpa, we should consider applying your recipe to our own organized death squads. Perhaps we should be more concerned about cleaning up our own sshhiiitttt before getting too hypocritical with others.
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Crimes Against Humanity: Iraqi Academics Assassinated During the US-Led Occupation
Editor's note
Pakistan Daily has published the list of Iraqi academics assassinated by US and allied occupation forces. The objective of these targeted assassinations is to "kill a nation", the destroy Iraq's ability to educate its people, to undermine its research and scientific capabilities in literally all fields of endeavor, to transform a nation into a territory, and ultmately to destroy civilization.
Of particular significance is the assassination of prominent scientists and physicians, professors of medicine in the country's leading academic institutions, its social scientists and historians, its physical scientists, its biologists, its engineers.
we are dealing with a carefully devised covert operation. The plan to kill the nation's scientists and intellectuals emanates from US intelligence and the military. It is a deliberate process.
Is the new Obama administration going to turn a blind eye to this diabolical and criminal agenda?....
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va=...
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sumptuousdigs7 months ago
CBG, I sure do feel your anger and outrage for these monsters. Pitiless and small, they take their shortcomings out on their women.
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I say 'their women' because in many countries women are chattel. They have no say in their lives or their futures. The best they can hope for is to be 'married to a 'good' man. They have not allowed anything. Got "uppity" that's all.
These societal or cultural conventions are throwbacks to dark age or feudal times in my opinion. Many of the places where these practices take place have feudal local systems where no central government can exert law. They need, and I pray are in for, a world of change.-
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humemacdonald7 months ago
Perhaps people could contact Biden to express their support for the signing of the legislation? The link to the org's site was really insightful, and gives a fuller explanation of the prevalence of this and related tactics.
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As Westerners we also have to be cognizant of the problems in our own countries. Domestic violence continues to be a serious issue here as well. Granted, the crimes are not usually so flagrant or extreme. Nevertheless, it has only been in the past few decades that domestic violence has ceased from being regarded as a private issue.
Here in Canada Dec 5th marks the anniversary of the massacre of female engineering students in Montreal in 89. I hope all Canadians take part in the purple ribbon campaign.
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gamahuche7 months ago
I haven't read the story or looked at the picture and I will not.
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I've known about this practice for decades and never, ever would I excuse such an act.
Where I cannot tread, however, though I completely understand the feelings behind it and have the same instincts myself, is to cross into the territory of justifying "do unto others what they have done to others".
Paradoxically it "excuses" the original act - at least in my ethical cosmology.
So throw your virtual stones at me - its O.K. I'm a big guy..-
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cowboygrandpa7 months ago
gama:
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There are cases where one must stand up and and demand justice !!!!!! To me this is one of them. It is not about doing to them what they have done. It is about doing to them what they chose to do to others.
Disfiguring or mutilatng another is an act of hatred and should be dealt with in a swift and just way. To me it is the only way that these people will learn that there are consequences for their behavior.
It is not about just punishing them it is about teaching them and others that if it is acceptable for them to do it then it is acceptable for it to be done to them.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you !!!! If I was to mutilate and destroy another human beings life. I would hope that person would receive the justice of the same thing being done to me !!!! For then I could truly understand the evil and ask for the forgiveness I need. I wouldn't be able to live the good life while my victim suffers.
At least that is how I see it.
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Georgia507 months ago
This is Western liberalism's fatal flaw. It at once wants to preach diversity and multiculturalism with a blind eye to all that primitive, tribalistic cultures stand for, then having granted the West's stamp of approval on all that is inherently amoral or even brutal, attempts to cherry pick the more objectionable practices as if to seek absolution for having so ignorantly painted with the broad stroke.
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And while the liberal West dances with the wolves of the third world, it takes direct aim at its own Judeo-Christian ethics and morals due to the relatively rare abuses that occur in the West...where it's clear that abuses occur not so much because of Judeo-Christian social mores but in spite of them.
Yes, these abuses of women need to be addressed. And liberals in the West need to grow up.
(Disclaimer: if you consider yourself a liberal but do not buy into multicultural stupidity, then I'm not addressing this to you.)-
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hyperbola7 months ago
Come, come Georgia, the "cons" have KILLED far more people over the past 8 years than these "prinitive" cultures. Or Georgia, how about we address the world's biggest refugee problem: the seven million christians and moslems that have been robbed, killed, expelled or put in concentration camps by zionists.
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Your moral hypocrisy is flagrant Georgia. Most "sects" of the type you support are more than happy to kill for ideology, then and now. Frankly your sect sounds every bit as primitive and barbaric as these people. Perhaps you should clean up your own act before dictating to others, especially to "liberals".
Mamilla Pool
...The Jewish chosen-ness led to genocide time and again. Outside of Jerusalem’s Jaffa gate (Bab al-Halil), there was once a small neighbourhood called Mamilla, destroyed by real-estate developers just a few years ago. In its place they created a kitschy ‘village’ for the super-rich, abutting the plush Hilton Hotel. A bit further away there is the old Mamilla cemetery of the Arab nobles and the Mamilla Pool, a water reservoir dug by Pontius Pilate...
... By 614 Palestine was a part of the Roman successor state, the Byzantine Empire. It was a prosperous, predominantly Christian land of well-developed agriculture, of harnessed water systems and carefully laid terraces. Pilgrims came in flocks to the Holy places. The Constantine-built edifices of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives and of the Holy Sepulchre were among the man-made wonders of the world. The Judean wilderness was enlivened by eighty monasteries, where precious manuscripts were collected and prayers offered. The Fathers of the church, St Jerome of Bethlehem and Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea, were still a living memory. One of the best Palestinian writers, on a par with the Minor Prophets, blessed John Moschos, just completed his Spiritual Meadow.
There was also a small, wealthy Jewish community living in their midst, mainly in Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Their scholars had just completed their version of the Talmud, the codification of their faith, Rabbinic Judaism; but for instruction they deferred to the prevailing Jewish community in Persian Babylonia.
II
In 614 local Palestinian Jews allied with their Babylonian co-religionists and assisted the Persians in their conquest of the Holy Land. 26,000 Jews participated in the onslaught. In the aftermath of the Persian victory, the Jews perpetrated a massive holocaust of the Gentiles of Palestine. They burned the churches and the monasteries, killed monks and priests, burned books. The beautiful basilica of Fishes and Loaves in Tabgha, the Ascension on the Mount of Olives, St Stephen opposite Damascus Gate and the Hagia Sion on Mt Zion are just at the top of the list of perished edifices. Indeed, very few churches survived the onslaught. ... -
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humemacdonald7 months ago
Georgia50 I thought you made some great points, but then you had to add this: "And liberals in the West need to grow up"
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Was that really necessary? Besides you can support multiculturalism and not sit on the fence about these types of issues by appealing to moral relativism.
I would suspect that more "liberals" ( not sure on your definition here, but I'm assuming you mean Democrats as you are an American) contribute to Human Rights Organizations, and therefore actually do something about these atrocities. -
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jordan117 months ago
Are you actually trying to say that 'liberalism' is what has held up oppressive regimes and nations over the decades? Republicans are 'liberals'? You're just so one sided, it really is senseless to try and have a conversation with you. But just for fun some time, you might want to take a peek at who backed the Contras, and what the Contras did to women and children. When you're done with that, take a peek at Iran. How about Hussein? Guess who backed him. Oh, & leave us not forget the Saudi's. ;)
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frctm57 months ago
This is a construct of the right group think and another inane attempt to paint liberalism as the root of all evil. Multi-culturalism doesn't mean condoning every barbarous act committed by other cultures. Its simply about respecting the beliefs of others, it doesn't mean condoning every action or idea within those systems. By the way, if you don't cherry pick the bible, there are some pretty barbarous acts in there as well. What is the alternative? Cultural hegemony? We should attempt to homogenize the world? Ein reich, ein volk, ein fuhrer. Because some Muslims burn their wives, we should try to stamp out Islam?
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The west is far from having its hands clean. We just commit our barbarous acts couched in lofty language and the hygienic and impersonal use of high tech weaponry. We don't see the consequences of our actions, policies, and values, but those consequences are no less barbaric for those on the receiving end. Its easy to keep your emotional distance when the violence committed is far removed from your personal experience. How many people have been just as horribly disfigured as the lady in this article with the excuse that this is just collateral damage and we regret it but war is hell? How many others have succumbed to appalling conditions or been poisoned with toxins working in the sweat shops of the third world because of the market economy? But hey, can't see it from my house. How often has the west fought wars to impose its values or sense of economic order on other parts of the world when its "interests" were threatened or to maintain access to resources? When we give funds to guerilla movements or coups that lead to dictatorships or teach military juntas torture techniques? Oh but it was for the greater good? What this man did was abominable but in a way it is more honest than the man who celebrates a laser guided bomb blowing up a building in the third world while eating Doritos on his couch. The West has killed far more people in the third world than the other way around. I think if you lived on the receiving end our our values, you might feel a little different.
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k9kssr7 months ago
Well what do you expect, they stone to death rape victims in that part of the world because they have brought disgrace to the family.
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I just can't wrap my head around this kind of thinking and the governments of these countries where these things occur must give implied approval because rarely, if ever, are the perpetrators punished. -
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UpholdOurConsitution7 months ago
This is heartbreaking. And anyone who can't see that is a fool, and the worst kind there is.
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It's not about west v. east or old. v. new or white v. black... it's about RIGHT v. WRONG. It's about compassion, kindness, love and generosity. Anyone who is incapable of experiencing those four key feelings should be put out of their misery IMHO. People who purposely hurt or abuse any other living creatures for self-pleasure or gain are SICK and need to be treated accordingly. How do they call it? Oh yes, humanely euthanized! Now, lets treat the real animals out there... And we'll start with this disfigured woman's ex-husband!-
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gamahuche7 months ago
"It's about compassion, kindness, love and generosity."
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Which is not a description of your post, unfortunately.
You put yourself on the same level as the perpetrator; the only difference is in your belief system and his.
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PainGoddess7 months ago
They also hang women who teach girls how to read in those areas
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A lot of the crimes are not well understood from our viewpoint because we in the West have many more freedoms as women and children.
It should not go on in any country but ignorance usually wins out in these situations.
The interpretation of the religious laws allow this and other horrors to continue. Not to mention the tribal customs. -
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KISA452a7 months ago
I guess it's good people are seeing this, but I really wonder what world people are living in that this comes as a surprise. If you are surprised by this and have thoughts on world events, you should consider your position (even if you already know, it's good to reconsider your position constantly). There are different places in the world, different customs, different values. What I usually see on here is the simplicity of life in the West and not having to fear constantly, not having to scrounge to survive. The West views things from the top of Pavlov's pyramid and is at "self actualization". Even those who are almost at the bottom are above the majority of the world. When survival is primary in day-to-day life, decisions take on a different perspective.
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hyperbola7 months ago
Your self-satisfied hypocrisy is overwhelming. Your "self actualization" is based on racism and exploitation.
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Immigration: A Nation of Colonists – and Race Laws
You hear it everywhere. Even from Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, author of the vicious anti-migrant legislation that has polarized the US. “We are a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” he says.
And like almost everyone else, he’s got it wrong.
The original Europeans in the Americas were not immigrants, but colonists. And the US is not a nation of immigrants - it is a white colonial settler state, like South Africa under Apartheid, the former Rhodesia, Australia and Israel.
And like those states the US has always operated on a sometimes hidden, sometimes overt system of Apartheid.
Like those places, the US is a nation of colonists – and race laws.
It is just another place where white colonists arrived, seized the land, and dispossessed, exterminated or attempted to exclude the original “non-white” peoples – all of them.
They did so at the point of a gun - by open terror and genocide, which was the precursor and the necessary pre-condition of European immigration. And, of course, they didn’t only use guns and overt terror. Where “necessary,” they operated by “law.”
Let me prove the point. It’s simple. We all know the facts.
In the US, Native Americans were dispossessed, subjected to mass murder, and locked on separate, Apartheid-style “reservations.” So it stands today.
Africans were enslaved, and once “freed,” they were subjected first to Jim Crow, then, when that proved no longer possible, Jim Crow was transformed into joblessness, the mass terror of mass incarceration and permanent Apartheid-style ghetto-ization. So it stands today.
The Indian nation of Mexico was conquered in a racist war of aggression by the US in 1848. The only debate in the days of “Manifest Destiny” was not whether to seize Mexican land, only how much of it to seize, and what to do to keep the Mexicans out of what had been stolen.
Two choices were before them. Take the whole nation and lock the people on reservations, or take as much land – with as few Mexicans – as possible. Thus the border was established through war, through brute and overtly racist violence. The border is an Apartheid Wall. So it stands today. -
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humemacdonald7 months ago
KISA452a
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I agree if you keep abreast of world issues this story should not be a surprise. As I said previously, I read about the attacks on the school girls last week,and I have known about the burnings for close to two decades, but seeing the photo of the woman made the issue much more visceral. Far too often we are inundated with stories similar to this and we become desensitized to the horror of other peoples lives. seeing the photo of the woman and her son, and reading their story forces you to confront the issue of violence against women on a deeper level.
Beyond this, though I am not really sure what point you are trying to make in the latter part of your post.
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4thchance7 months ago
This is all the fault of BUSH.
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Soon it will be all the fault of Obama. Keeping in mind, Obama has PROMISED he will return to Afghanistan and fix all their problems too, as he runs away from and surrenders in Iraq. So, anything that goes wrong in Afghanistan after Obama is in office will indeed be the fault of Obama. Am I wrong about that. Perhaps the Democrat blame game is a one way street. It is a one way street isn't? -
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humemacdonald7 months ago
This has also been a problem in the past in India amongst Hindus. Though the practice of things like Sati (widows burning themselves on the funeral pyre of their husband) are not as prevalent now as they once were. What about some Japanese women who walk a few paces behind their husband, or in the USA or Canada where perpetrators of violence against women get sentences more lenient than if they had stolen a TV. ( How about 16 months for stabbing your wife 17 times!- unfortunately this was in my home province)
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Far too often girls and women around the world are relegated to second class standing. The objectification of women in Western society shares much in common with these more extreme manifestations of female devaluation. -
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dissent7 months ago
"Hello! Have we noticed that stuff like beheadings, throwing acid on school girls and teachers, suicide bombings, etc. etc. are always done by individuals whose religion is Islam? Is there a connection somewhere?"
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no it isn't. this not a connection it's your assumption but it's wrong -
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UpholdOurConsitution7 months ago
Definitely NOT a connection. Beheadings, acid throwing, etc. are not exclusive to the Muslim community. Sweeping generalizations like yours only fuel the fire of hatred and intolerance that is already burning out of control for the religion of Islam. Violence knows no borders or races or religions.
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saneman7 months ago
Ok, so what is the purpose of this story? People have had acid thrown on them in the US and they were prosecuted if caught. Terrorism happens everywhere, and if they are caught they will be prosecuted there if that's the case. Hundreds of thousands of crimes go unsolved in the US every year and we are suppose to be concerned about crimes over there. ROFLMAO!
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saneman7 months ago
This is indeed a very bad situation in those countries at least according to our laws, but should we tell others how to behave and treat each other? Do we want others to tell us how to behave and treat each other? In our society, throwing acid in the face of any living creature is wrong and dealt with severly be it a human being or an animal. We also don't eat each other like some societies where cannibalism is practiced and is part of their society. We surely can offer suggestions and urge such societies to change, but using force to make them change would be no different if they forced us to change. What we see as wrong, they may see as right and vice versa. Just because we say it is wrong, doesn't make it wrong in their eyes.
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UpholdOurConsitution7 months ago
"should we tell others how to behave and treat each other?" There's no all-inclusive answer to your question. The answer would depend on the details of the situation you are questioning. What are the consequences if we don't? And if we do? Right and wrong are not rocket science saneman... It really shouldn't take so much thought. Things are "right" when they promote happiness and life. Things are "wrong" when they promote pain and death. It's just that simple to me. Guess I'm a very simple-minded gal then.
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And if you consider yourself "sane", please re-read your post wherein you're 'ROFLYAO' after reading about a woman who had her face burned off with acid in front of her son by his own father. This article sparked many emotions for me, and I can tell you for sure that none of them was laughter. If sanity is laughing at something like this, then I am as insane as they come... And damn proud of it!
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woofandmeow7 months ago
So liberals. These are the kind of monsters we are supposed to feel sorry for? To treat them nice? Terrorist prisoners in Cuba and elsewhere given mints on their pillow??
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These Islamic terrorists burn, mutilate, rape, kill innocent women in the name of Allah. These monsters should be doused with pig fat and set on fire. Let them meet their 72 virgins looking like burn toast!-
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pcknowledge7 months ago
No our government is supposed to do what Bush did. Throw bombs from high above, kill huge civilian populations there, bomb their homes, workplaces, schools, busses, & ultimately drive the current and next generation into more poverty & violence. Should our government do that in the name of Christianity?
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dotsie_d7 months ago
I am not a VICTIM of domestic violence. I am a SURVIVOR of domestic violence. These women who survive are my sisters. My first marriae was to a man who felt trapped--so he felt the only way to et rid of me was throuh his words, his fists, a knife and boiling oil. I finally put HIM out when I decided to make it look like I was the INSANE one. I consider myself a VICTOR the night that happened, it meant I would LIVE. Please remember thaqt when you write of us--the women who survive. We might be banged up and dragged down by society, but we are ALL WINNERS. Thanks for allowing me to write on this-it is something that needs to be said and a common misperception.
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humemacdonald7 months ago
I think there are lots of survivors out there- often we just don't know about them because we keep it quiet. Thanks :)
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slate7 months ago
I only have one question? Is there still a way to block some one on this site so you don't have to look at their same tired post?
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dotsie_d7 months ago
I would hope you aren't speaking to me, because jerks like you are why there is still a HUGE problem. If you ARE addressing me, neither you nor any other a-hole on God's green earth can take it from me, because it's part of me. If you don't like it, read someone else's post. You've probably laid a hand on someone, thus the obstinance.
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jwholcard7 months ago
Here is my Dear Mr. Terrorist blog that came out of a question that my 7-year old daughter asked about the Mumbai attacks. Thanks for reading, John http://thecardattic.blogspot.com/
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