People Get What They Deserve

Reuters: Penis theft panic hits city

Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.  No, seriously.  Stop laughing, this is serious.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

...

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

...

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

I just want all those people who think that there is a sorcerer trying to steal their penis to know that it is true. 

I personally pray to the devil every night to shrink, steal, or strike impotent the penises of every man outside of the United States and especially those in Congo.  While praying and saying some very complicated chants, I wear a gold ring, which I twist around my left index finger 13 times and then tap on a map of Congo.

Although, for the sake of women and children, I do wish these men would go behind closed doors to show off their stricken penises and not do that on the street as is implied in the above.

Now, I will ask the Dark Father Lucifer to stop doing this to the Congolese men if they will  help me transfer the money of a Nigerian prince...

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 03:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Category: In the News
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And You Thought You Had it Bad

Reuters: Court terminates 8-year-old girl's marriage

SANAA (Reuters) - A Yemeni court ordered the marriage of an eight-year-old girl terminated on Tuesday because she had not reached puberty.

The court also ordered the child's family to pay about $250 in compensation to the 30-year-old ex-husband.

The girl's lawyer and human rights activist Shatha Nasser said the minor had filed a suit in April asking for divorce and told the court that her husband had been physically abusing her and forcing her to have "sex with him after hitting her."

One of the people attending the trial volunteered to pay the compensation, the lawyer said, but did not explain the reason why the court ordered the compensation.

The ruling terminated the marriage instead of granting a divorce to prevent the husband from seeking to reinstate the marriage, according to the lawyer.

Many minor girls in Arab countries that observe tribal traditions are married to older husbands but not before puberty. Such marriages are also driven by poverty in countries like Yemen, one of the poorest countries outside Africa.

At the risk of being accused of ethnocentrism, that practice of marrying minors is barbaric and that a court of law dissolved a marriage merely because the child was prepubescent and not because, oh, I don't know, he hit her or that she is 8 or that she didn't WANT to be married to him, is insane.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 07:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Boycott China

So, no doubt you've heard of all the fuss made about China hosting the Olympics this year.  I, for one, am opposed to it.  I think China is a rotten place and I don't even support doing business with China, let alone going there to play games.

A friend of mine on Facebook recently posted this article.

AV Press: Olympic boycott? Exactly the wrong idea

No thinking person would defend the People's Republic of China.

It's a terrible regime guilty of myriad offenses, and its domination of Tibet just happens to be the most trendy cause at the moment.

It's a Communist country. It's not a nice place. We get that.

...

The Olympics began in ancient Greece, and legend has it that even the war with Sparta was put on hold so athletes could compete. The modern Olympics began in 1896; the idea was to foster goodwill among countries of the world.

It's supposed to be the one time, every four years, when nations can set aside their differences and come together to enjoy the magnificent performances of athletes who have trained their entire lives to compete against the best in the world.

...

The world can see for itself what China is doing. The world can see the lengths to which the Chinese must go to prevent the real story of their evil empire from becoming public - banning Internet access in the Olympic village, etc. Having the Olympics in China does not give a nod of approval to China's regime. It shines a light on that regime in hopes of bringing about change.

...

Politicians and pundits who so blithely suggest the United States should boycott the Olympics ought to give up their lifelong dreams and quit their careers in protest. After all, that's what they're asking the athletes to do - give up their lifelong dreams.

First and foremost, the part that irritates me about this article is how it whitewashes the evils of China. 

It's like, "tyranny.. blah blah blah whatever."

Excuse me? 

That kind of response displays a crass, vapid and callous insensitivity to the nature of tyranny and simple facts of its manifestation in China.

Our complaints against China aren't that they stand in doorways or walk too slowly on the sidewalk or that they have no appreciation for the music of the Jonas Brothers.  It's not a minor annoyance or a simple difference of opinion.

China is a country whose government has absolutely no regard for individual rights.  They have no qualms about imprisoning or killing people for the benefit of "the state."  They've impoverished and terrorized at least a billion people. 

Perhaps from the relative comfort and freedom of the United States this is difficult for people to understand.  And this failure to properly recognize the issue here is exactly the problem.

The author of this article mentions the US boycott of the Russian Olympics in 1980 and characterizes it as "foolish."  I don't disagree with that characterization, but for completely different reasons.

The reason we should have boycotted the 1980 Olympics isn't because the USSR invaded Afghanistan, but because they too were a totalitarian government.  The foolishness of the boycott in 1980 was that it -- typical of Jimmy Carter -- was a failed attempt identify and take a stand on principle.

A country doesn't have to invade another to be evil.

The irony here is that the author waxes righteous while citing an example of someone making the same mistake he's making.

His argument is that the Olympics neither help nor hinder nor help countries who host them and that we should just participate in them because the athletes have worked their whole lives to be in them.

Is that even true?

No, it is not.

Hosting the Olympics is a major economic boost to the country and region who hosts it.  When a tyranny hosts the Olympics, all the money spent there goes to sustain that tyranny.

Yes, the Olympics brings global attention to the country and may highlight some of its ills, but so does boycotting it.  Boycotting, in particular, highlights the bad thing, while blind participation in the Olympics is effectively turning a blind eye to these things.

Can anyone turn a blind eye to the evils of China with a clear conscience?  It's astonishing that this author would even suggest it.  And on behalf of athletes who allegedly live for nothing other than the Olympics.

Do these athletes live for nothing other than the Olympics?  No.

The Olympics do bring international attention and a broader viewership to certain sports which may boost endorsements and the like, but the Olympics is not generally the most important competition for a particular athlete.

The author closes with a challenge to those who "blithely" propose boycotting the Olympics asking if they would willingly give up their lifelong dreams for this.

If I, for one, found out that my "lifelong dreams" would necessarily result in the propagation of tyranny, injustice, violence, and poverty for more than a BILLION people would happily reexamine my life priorities and I expect the same of any sane person.

On a finale note, consider the following from Press Esc: China forcibly evicts 1.5 million people for Olympics

1.5 million people had their property seized and were effectively rendered homeless for the Olympics.  It's shocking how blithely this author can ignore atrocities like this just so he can see someone's Ballroom Dancing dreams fulfilled.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 10:55 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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