The War against Iraqi women

By Zeina Zaatari

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Iraqi women's organizations and international observers point to an
escalating war against women in Iraq, aided by the widespread chaos and
lawlessness under United States occupation. In addition to violence by
American troops inside and outside of prisons, women in Iraq face daily
violence from militants under the guise of religion and "liberation."

In Iraq's second largest city, Basra, a stronghold of conservative Shiite
groups, as many as 133 women were killed last year for violating "Islamic
teachings" and in so-called "honor killings," according to the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The methods
are brutal evidence of a backlash by previously subdued tribal forces
that have
been unleashed by the occupation: women strangled and beheaded, and their
hands, arms and legs chopped off.

I've just tossed off this little list... Anyone else want to try/comment?

THE BEST BOOKS I’VE EVER READ

My journey as a Christian, lover/husband, father, and pastor/teacher/
evangelist has covered different terrains during threescore and ten
years. Here’s a rough chronological journey listing books that...

Here's an imaginary interview with Jesus about homosexuality, posted
sporadically on these newsgroups over the past dozen years. Some of the
statistics/aetiology issues need updating, but generally I'd still
affirm this general stance. (Expect in response 'corrective' - that's
the softest word - opinions from others either to my ideological/
theological left or right :-)

Rowland Croucher

****

Interviewer: Jesus, you had a reputation for hanging around with those
on the edges/margins of society. But some of my homosexual friends and
clients wonder why you said nothing about homosexuality, even though it
was rife back then. We're in a 'bi' bar in San Francisco... why are you
here?

# Jesus: Hi! I was invited by a friend. Remember when Matthew threw a
party for his mafia-type mates? I was enjoying myself before the
religious leaders gate-crashed it.

More... http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/12135.htm

--

Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher

History’s Worst Decisions (Stephen Weir, 2005), History’s Greatest
Scandals (Ed Wright et. al, 2006), (Murdoch Books/Pier 9).

If you want to occupy part of your holidays – as I have just done –
reading about history’s idiots/ idiotics, you can’t go past these two
250-page volumes.

But first, a quiz to test your knowledge of some Very Important Trivia:

(Greatest Scandals): 1. America’s ‘worst president’, who according to e
e cummings was ‘the only man, woman or child who could write a simple
declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors’.

2. Another US president who was ‘an introvert in an extrovert’s job’ who
spent his last night in office drinking, sobbing and praying.

3. He said ‘power is the ultimate aphrodisiac’.

4. Among her lingerie she had a bullet-proof bra.

5. This statement got into Bartlett’s ‘Familiar Quotations’: ‘If “is”
means is and never has been, that is one thing. If it means there is
none, that was a completely true statement.’

6. When she died at 67 tales persisted that she’d been crushed by a
horse while attempting to have sex.

7. ‘Demons made me do it but Oral Roberts cast them out over the phone’.

(Herbert Read)

We cannot easily forgive another for not being ourselves. Emerson

I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so
following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.

Shylock, The Merchant of Venice

More... http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/2975.htm
--

Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ (20,000 articles 4000 humor)

Blogs - http://rowlandsblogs.blogspot.com/

Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/

Funny Jokes and Pics - http://funnyjokesnpics.blogspot.com/

The Use and Abuse of Power

Many of you have been surprised to learn that an innocent woman (Dawn
Rowan) can have her property ‘legally’ stolen by the Australian
Government. Not only that: Five S.A. Government departments ‘lost’ the
relevant cohort of documents before the court-case began. Was anyone
prosecuted for that? No. A thick folder of many of these documents –
carefully pasted together from quotes in other memos – was stolen from a
friend’s house where they were lodged for safe-keeping (nothing else was
taken). Who would have done that? [1]

Reinhold Niebuhr used to say that the worst evils in the world are
perpetrated by ‘good’ people who do not know they are not doing good.
The evil in institutions is greater than the sum of the evil of the
individuals within them (Robert Merton).

AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* DARFUR WOMEN DESCRIBE GANG RAPE HORROR

* CHRISTIAN LEADERS IDENTIFY CHALLENGES THE CHURCH WILL FACE IN
2008

* KENYAN GOVERNMENT LOOKS TO CHRISTIANS TO FACILITATE HEALING
AND RECONCILIATION

* MULTIPLE WIVES WILL MEAN MULTIPLE BENEFITS IN BRITAIN

* NEPAL GOVERNMENT SAYS 'WE MUST FINE YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE A
CHRISTIAN'.

* ERITREA GOVERNMENT IMPRISONS MORE THAN 2000
CHRISTIANS

-----------------------------------------------

DARFUR WOMEN
DESCRIBE GANG RAPE HORROR

Dear friends

This week I'm speaking at a national conference of Seventh Day Adventist
pastors and their spouses, on 'Self-care for Christian Leaders'. I
thought you might be interested in this handout...

**** MINISTRY FOR THE LONG HAUL – SOME RESOURCES ****

February 2008

A Pastoral Survival Guide http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/8658.htm

Cliff Powell and Graham Barker, Unloading the Overload: Stress
Management for Christians, Sydney: Strand Publishing, 1998.

‘Do Yourself a Favour – Encourage your Pastor’ -
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/8384.htm

Rowland Croucher (ed.) Still Waters, Deep Waters: Meditations and
Prayers for Enrichment, A Garden of Solitude: Meditations and Prayers
for Encouragement (Albatross / Lion).

50 ARTICLES ON STRESS - http://jmm.aaa.net.au/catalog/keyword/s-17.htm

20+ ARTICLES ON BURNOUT - http://jmm.aaa.net.au/catalog/keyword/b-11.htm

Stress and Burnout in Ministry - http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/8200.htm

Does Ministry Fuel Addictive Behaviour?
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/18859.htm

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

United States : The Revis family of North Carolina (Sure hope most
American families eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less junk
food than this family.)
Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1, 862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Dear people,

I'd like to notify that there is a new yahoo group on internet called
"Lectorium Rosicrucianum". It is a group dedicated to the teachings of
one of the major Gnostic/ Rosicrucian orginasations of our time called
the Lectorium Rosicrucianum.

The purpose of this new yahoo group is to discuss about anything
connected to Gnostic teaching. Anyone with an interest in the gnostic
side of religion is welcome.

It's address is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lectorium_Rosicrucianum/

With best regards D.Wood