Ain't Complicated

They Call This Honor?

LONDON (Reuters) – A Kurdish woman was brutally raped, stamped on and strangled by members of her family and their friends in an “honor killing” carried out at her London home because she had fallen in love with the wrong man.

Banaz Mahmod, 20, was subjected to the 2-1/2 hour ordeal before she was garroted with a bootlace. Her body was stuffed into a suitcase and taken about 100 miles to Birmingham where it was buried in the back garden of a house.

They need redemption. As do all of us.

Indeed, they can be fully redeemed. As can all of us.

Interestingly, though I can’t categorize this under Middle East, it definitely fits in the category I chose.

Democrat Charges

What is he charging?

Toward what is he charging?

For what is he charging?

On whose credit is he charging?

“Yes,” he said in answer to his own question:

“Were we duped?” he asked.

“Were we too easily impressed by the charm of nominee Roberts and the erudition of nominee Alito?” Schumer asked. “Did we mistakenly vote our hopes when our fears were more than justified by the ultraconservative records of these two men?”

He could take comfort in the assurance that not all who are duped are dupes.

Shaymaa: In Danger in Egypt

On July 19 I reported on this.

Now Compass Direct News provides us with this sad update:

Egyptian police in Alexandria who last week arrested a Christian convert woman today handed her over to her fanatical Islamist family, who beat her before driving her away.

Eyewitnesses said family members of Shaymaa (Eman) Muhammad al-Sayed, 26, today dragged her screaming from the police station where she had been closeted. According to the eyewitnesses outside Alexandriaâ€™s Bab-Sharky police station, Al-Sayedâ€™s relatives severely beat her in the Shatby Cemetery behind the police station at 4 p.m.

She was then forced into a family microbus and driven off toward the district of Abeis, east of Alexandria, where her fatherâ€™s knitting factory is located.

One week ago, on July 16, these same family members openly threatened to kill Al-Sayed for leaving Islam to become a Christian, after spotting her walking through a fair in Alexandria.

Local police promptly took her into â€œprotective custody,â€ allegedly to prevent her physical harm at the hands of her irate Muslim relatives.

But instead of protecting her, local police and State Security Investigation (SSI) officials have subjected the threatened woman to days of severe physical and emotional torture. Her maltreatment included electrical shocks, beatings and being photographed naked.

A Time to Hope?

A day of mourning may open doors for outreach:

Tisha B’Av is the ninth day of the month of Av on the Jewish calendar. It’s observed as a day of mourning, and this year it falls on July 24.

[…]

During this three week period, celebrations are not permitted, and people refrain from cutting their hair. From the first to the ninth of Av, it is customary to refrain from eating meat or drinking wine and from wearing new clothing.

E3 Partners’ Tom Doyle says there’s good reason for it. Over the course of history, Israel has suffered tragedy and catastrophe on Tisha b’Av. “The first Temple was leveled on the ninth of Av. The second Temple was leveled on the ninth of Av. The Spanish Inquisition started on the ninth of Av. The ‘Final Solution’ was presented to Hitler on the ninth of Av. So, as we’re heading toward that, there seems to be, every year, this collective sigh of [resignation] ‘ok, what’s gonna happen this year?'”

Add to that the tinderbox situation Israel is in the middle of, and the tension mounts. Doyle says their partners are concerned. “With all of the pressure–Israel in a vice grip right now and Syria openly saying they’re going to attack–Israelis are just bracing themselves for another tragedy, something coming their way. But on the other hand, that gives believers a chance to openly share their faith and talk about the hope in Yeshua as Savior.”

Elections: Turkey

Mission Network News reports:

This Sunday, Turkey, still in the early days of democracy, goes to the polls.

This vote was forced four months ahead of schedule when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political party (Justice and Development Party, or AKP) failed to get its presidential candidate elected in a parliamentary vote boycotted by the secular opposition.

IN Network’s Rody Rodeheaver says while there’s a lot of talk about the future president, there’s a more immediate concern. “The general election is not to elect the president, but it is to elect the members of parliament, 550 of them. Then, once that new government is constituted, then they, in turn, will elect a president.”

Tensions are high between the government and secularists, as well as the army, which threatened to take action if the government failed to ensure the separation of religion and state. That’s brought outside watchers to bear on the elections. Turkey is trying to get into the European Union. The land is of huge strategic importance to the European Union, Iran, Iraq and Syria, but there are underlying tensions over which way Turkey’s new government will go.

Rodeheaver says, “The prayer here is that the country would not head toward becoming an Islamic state. There have been some tensions because of that and fears that might have been some sort of secret agenda in the original Parliament here, in their choosing of a president.”

Spin-Off

Over the decades, space exploration and research has led to some beneficial spin-offs here on the ground.

Stand by for more!

Two crewmen aboard the International Space Station on Thursday prepared for a spacewalk during which more than 1,600 pounds (726 kg) of obsolete gear will be tossed overboard and left to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Well, not beneficial spin-off.

If they can get away with that, can I do something somewhat similar? May I? Please?

I have a microwave and a clothes dryer and a couple of lawnmowers that I don’t want to pay to dump in the landfill. I could just push them over the hill. I’m sure the odds are less than 1:5000 that one of them will land on the road below, and much less that someone down there will get landed on.

DejaRaq

Did we hear similar tales regarding Hussein and Iraq?

Most Iranians oppose regime

A new survey reveals that 92 percent of the subjects of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s totalitarian government do not believe their nation’s role is positive, and two-thirds would support a “Velvet Revolution” to remove him from power.

The survey, by the Center For the Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights, found that almost six out of 10 Iranians would support a foreign military action for the purpose of taking Ahmadinejad out of the role as dictator.