Under the Table and Dreaming

Doctors Suck

So, I had to go to the doctor today. Nothing's wrong. But they wouldn't refill my prescription unless I went in. So I did. And I got on the scale, only to see that I've gained weight. Ugh. And to be told that my blood pressure is bordering on high. That's the first time that's ever happened. So I was told I had to lose weight.

I will be the first one to admit that I have not been training much lately. My hip has prevented me from doing long miles. And I haven't been eating as well as I should. I just don't understand how my blood pressure was fine three months ago and now it's bordering on high. I guess things like that happen. And I shouldn't be surprised to the extent that high blood pressure is all over both sides of my family. I was just hoping to avoid that particular malady.

So, I have to eat better and exercise more. Which is theory is fine. In practice it's much harder. But I will do it because I need to. Michael was trying to make me feel better by saying 5 pounds isn't a lot. In and of itself, no. But the fact that those 5 pounds raised my blood pressure bothers me.

Of course, I'm failing to mention the tremendous amount of stress I've had this week with the car situation, the work piling up on me, and some other stuff going on. And I've had no outlet for it. So I suppose it really shouldn't surprise me that my blood pressure is up. Most fat people have high blood pressure. That doesn't mean I accept it or will be complacent about it. It just means that I realize I'm more apt to that type of condition. And I also realize that I'm getting older and that's when shit starts going wrong.

On an entirely different note, I'm reading "The Good Soldiers" by David Finkel. I HIGHLY recommend it. It's about a battalion of soldiers during the surge in Iraq in 2007. It is making me wonder if anything any politician of EITHER party says is the least bit true or accurate. The vision the politicians had and the reality on the ground were two totally different things. Anyway, the book is really fantastic. As good as hyped.

A Killing Without Honor

Police in Peoria, Arizona arrested Faleh Hassan Almalaki for murder. Almalaki, an Iraqi living in the United States, ran down his daughter, Noor Faleh Almaleki, 20 and 43-year-old Amal Edan Khalaf, Noor's boyfriend's mother. After two weeks in intensive care, Noor died from her injuries. Amal remains hospitalized. Noor left a son. If you haven't heard the story, I'm sure you're wondering why a father would run down his daughter with his car. The answer? His daughter had become "too westernized" and refused an arranged marriage, instead opting to move in with her boyfriend and son. This type of murder occurs a lot in the Middle East and Africa and is called Honor killings. When a woman does something that dishonors her family in some way, a male family member will kill her to restore the family's honor. This occurs frequently in cases of rape. Women are considered to be at fault if they are raped, no matter what the situation. When they are raped, they shame their family and a family member must restore honor by killing her.

The case of Noor Almaleki is not unusual. Honor killings have been happening in immigrant communities in the United States with increasing and alarming frequency. People that come to the United States from places in Africa and the Middle East often suffer from culture shock. We are, after all, a much different society than they are coming from. Women are treated far better in this society than elsewhere in the world. Our culture is more free and open and lenient when it comes to things like women being able to drive, not cover their faces, wear make-up, be educated and work. For the most part, there are no arranged marriages here. But a lot of the time, people that immigrate here, bring their culture and stick to their cultural norms, despite them being so different from the norms here. The failure to assimilate probably has a lot to do with the conflict that erupts between parents and children, who attend American schools and learn Western ways.

This situation is a reminder that no matter how far we've come as a society, we have a long way to go. It's not just the Iraqi/Islamic culture that we have to deal with. We have to deal with our failure to recognize that this is happening and our failure to try to stop it. Noor's father said to several different people that Noor was becoming too Westernized. I am sure that there were people who saw warning signs they chose to ignore. We, as a society, are failing young women who immigrate to this country if we turn a blind eye to the tremendous stress they endure in moving to a foreign land with a different language and culture.

It is also a reminder that in most other parts of the world, women are not afforded the basic human rights that we take for granted. I do not have to worry about my father killing me for living with Michael out of wedlock (though I'm quite sure he doesn't like it). I have an education that so many women in the world are denied. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has written a book "Half the Sky", which makes a strong argument that everyone benefits when women are afforded basic human rights, most especially education.

The way you defeat ignorance and extremism is through education. Not just education for those who believe in honor killings, but for women. Participation in civil society insures that society remains civil. If you have an entire gender that is excluded from basic things like education and jobs, you cannot have a society that functions on a level where it can excel. Greg Mortensen makes that basic argument in "Three Cups of Tea" He has built more than 100 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan that girls attend and that the Taliban leaves alone.

Women in the Middle East and Africa face such daunting challenges - veils, lack of opportunity for education, AIDS, rape, genocide, honor killings. There could be a woman in Africa or the Middle East who could find the cure for cancer or write the next great novel, but we will never know because she lacks the opportunity to learn. She lacks the opportunity to excel. She lacks basic human rights and has to worry whether she'll be raped and then killed by her family.

I'm not sure what the answer is. I don't really have one. But it doesn't mean I'm not outraged or that I don't think about this. It also means that I realize how incredibly lucky I am to live where I do.

The End Of History

It's the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was a senior in high school when the Berlin Wall fell. I was in college when the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. I went to Russia shortly thereafter. I grew up a child of the Cold War. It was always the US against the Soviets and that was just how the world was going to be. Then it all fell down.

I remember sitting in my debate class and watching the special report on the news. I clearly remember Tom Brokaw talking about the wall coming down. I remember the images of people standing atop the wall with sledge hammers. I was a long way removed from the events that were happening in Berlin. But, as it turns out, not that far away. My neighbors went to Berlin when the wall was coming down. They had taken a trip to Europe and were in Berlin at a fortuitous time. When they came home, they brought me piece of the wall. I have it. It is sitting on top of my entertainment center. It's a small piece of concrete. But it's part of world history.

My sophomore year in high school, the debate topic was the United States should adopt a policy to increase political stability in Latin America. At the time, there were economists here that were predicting the downfall of the Soviet Union economically, which would lead to the fall of the Soviet government and system. At the time, I really didn't believe that would happen, but it made a good case to say that the U.S. would step in and take care of Cuba when the Soviet Union fell. No one believed it would actually happen. But it did.

And it started with a wall coming down that had separated a city for 18 years. The wall was built shortly after John Kennedy took office. He took a lot of criticism at the time for not doing anything about the East Germans/Soviets building the wall. Berlin had been a divided city since the end of World War II, when it was divided into zones. The U.S., British, French and Soviet zones. It was consolidated into West versus East. Berlin was the flash point of Cold War relations and a microcosm of the rest of the U.S. versus U.S.S.R conflict.

It's funny to have to explain to Patrick what the Cold War was. What the Berlin Wall was. What it symbolized. He was born well after the fall of the Soviet Union. His experience with the Cold War will be relegated to what he reads from my book shelves or in his history texts.

The fall of the Berlin wall is one of those defining moments of my generation. Everyone I know remembers where they were when they saw it happen. It was like Tienanmen Square. The images are burned into your psyche. I cannot believe that it has been twenty years since the Wall came down. I cannot believe that it has been almost twenty years since I graduated from high school. While I wouldn't want to live that time over, I can't believe how quickly it fades into history.

Are we better off for the Soviet Union having collapsed? Arguments can be made both ways. Are we better off that Germany is one and there is no longer a wall dividing Berlin? I think so. The transition for most Iron Curtain countries has been hard. They were left in political and economic ruin with no infrastructure to build anew. But. The issues of oligarchy and tyranny still exist, they have just taken different forms. The world is definitely not a safer place. The forces that seek to destroy us with dirty bombs and suicide attacks have an easier time planning and executing. It's a trade-off. But I have hope. I have hope that the forces of peace and democracy will spread through the world and at some point in our future, we won't have such problems. I know that's a pollyanna way of looking at the world, but I never thought the Berlin Wall would come down and that would be the beginning of the end of the Soviet system. Stranger things have happened.

Afghanistan

I have stayed away from posting about the political. No particular reason except that I haven't paid that much attention. I know I should. Someone has to be the voice of reason among my family and boyfriend, lol. But I just haven't felt like dealing with the morass of health care reform. But there has been an awful lot of discussion about what to do in Afghanistan of late and I am feeling like I need to say something about what's going on.

I was pleased to see that the President is not going to decrease the number of troops there. It would have been disastrous. And I will start by saying that I would much rather no American troops would have to die, but that's not realistic. And as opposed as I was to the war in Iraq which I think was largely unjustified and illegal, I think we need to be in Afghanistan. I have thought that for a long time. Had we not invaded Iraq, we would probably not be fighting like we are in Afghanistan. But there's no use crying over spilled milk.

This may come as a shock to some who know me, but I believe we need more troops in Afghanistan. I believe that the Taliban and Al Queda are inextricably linked and that to defeat one you have to defeat both. I believe that we have an obligation (after DECADES of meddling and leaving the people to the fate of the Taliban) to build that nation. This started long before 9/11 and I think we have a tendency to only see the short-term and to forget our history.

This started when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and the world was like a giant chess board for the Superpowers. We funded the Taliban and encouraged the growth of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Middle East either on purpose or through ignorance. Either way, we left that region in a power vacuum once the Cold War was over. Then our government has the nerve to act surprised that Al Queda had been hiding in nations like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia - all the places we relegated to the back burner because they were not geopolitically important. Now we react with confusion when we see such anti-American sentiment in the region.

The Vice-President is floating the plan of no additional troops, concentrate on defeating Al Queda and leaving the fate of the Afghan people and government to the Taliban. I think that idea is a disaster of monumental proportions waiting to happen. While the Taliban and Al Queda are two different organizations, they have a symbiotic relationship. You absolutely cannot defeat one without defeating the other. I am shocked and surprised the Vice-President would push such an ignorant idea. Aside from which, we owe the people of Afghanistan some help. We have ignored them and relegated them to life with the Taliban. They have no infrastructure, no economy (and we wonder why they raise poppies), no education, no civil society. A nation cannot exist and a government cannot function without a civil society (see Somalia). If we truly want to stop the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism throughout the world, we have to take steps to make that happen. Allow girls to be educated. Let women be teachers and doctors and lawyers and politicians. Let the rule of law reign supreme. Build a physical infrastructure and a political one. If we do not do these things, we are bound to fail. And a failure in Afghanistan will hit us at home in the form of another 9/11.

Weighing In

I'm not rich. I'm not famous. No one really cares too much about what I think about anything. For some reason, our culture values what celebrities have to say about a lot of things that do not deal with their area of expertise. Sometimes I agree with what they say. Most of the time, however, I couldn't give a crap what Rob Reiner or Susan Sarandon thinks about anything. But I figure since they use their celebrity to weigh in on all sorts of issues, I would use my blog with its three loyal readers, to weigh in on a subject they have no trouble talking about.

Roman Polanski.

He was arrested in Switzerland this week. On a very old warrant. You see, in 1977, Roman Polanski raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl at Jack Nicholson's house. There is a piece in today's LA Times that talks about the Grand Jury testimony the victim gave at the time. She has since said that she forgives him and wants it all to be over as it feels like they both got a life sentence. Originally, Polanski accepted a plea that would have put him in Chico State Prison for 90 days for a mental health evaluation. He had already served 42 days in jail. There were indications from the judge that he was not going to honor the sentencing request in the plea agreement and was going to sentence Polanski to substantially more time in prison. So Polanski fled the U.S., never to return. He has trapsed all over the world since then, made movies and even won an Oscar.

The LA District Attorney's office kind of, half-heatedly tried to have him arrested through the years. But it wasn't until this week that he was finally caught. He is fighting extradition. And many, many celebrities have come out with pleas for the government to let him go. Harvey Weinstein had the nerve to say that Polanski committed a "so-called" crime. (More on that in a minute.) Debra Winger, Whoopi Goldberg and others have asked for him to be realeased and the charges dropped. It offends and shocks me that they would act like this.

Polanski's "so-called" crime was to ply a 13 year old GIRL with alcohol and drugs. He then had oral sex with her. Then he proceeded to sodomize her because he was worried about her getting pregnant. She said, in her Grand Jury testimony, that she didn't put up much of a fight because she was afraid of him. To me, it doesn't really matter why she didn't fight. She was 13. She was a CHILD. In no way, shape or form was that legally or morally right. There is no way to justify this kind of behavior, despite Polanski's interview in 1979 in which he said that everyone "thinks about fucking little girls." Uh, not so much.

I offer to Debra Winger, Harvery Feinstein and Whoopi Goldberg that if he were Roman Polanski the roofer, they wouldn't give a shit that he was a child rapist, caught 30 years after he fled. I submit to them that if it was their 13 year old daughter he raped and sodomized they wouldn't be so cavalier about asking for his release.

They say he did his time. Uh no. 42 days for rape? I don't think so. Even 90 days wouldn't have been enough. I know he's a holocaust survivor and his wife was brutally murdered by Charles Manson's gang when she was 8 months pregnant. And maybe those are mitigating factors. But not so much to me. I don't care how many Oscars he wins or how many people think he's a genius. He's a child rapist. He should serve time for what he did. End of story.

I'm Back!

My laptop is back. Thank God. I can finally do my lecture notes for the two classes that are left on the computer. I can finish some forms I need to finish for some friends, and I can enjoy blogging and Facebook from home. I realized in the time my laptop was down, that I'm entirely too attached to my electronic devices. I feel somewhat better about this addiction in that I have managed to read more books this year than last year. I still make time to read and do other things. I just love me my technology.

I had a post all figured out last night. I didn't get to it as time slipped away with Patrick's football game, dinner, three kids to bathe and get homework done. So I started this post and never got back to it. I shouldn't be writing right now. I should be preparing tonight's assignment for my students, but I have faith that I'll get it done. 

I had an idea for a post but now, can't remember what it is. I have a bunch of topics swirling in my brain, but they are half-thoughts and less than half sentences. I want to talk about Obama's speech to the UN - long over due, the very disturbing plan for Afghanistan advanced by Joe Biden, the fact that I'm a de facto mom to three kids (mine included) and how I feel about that, the re-arrangement in my home and I how I feel about that, and the fact that I'm tired of listening to pundits and television and radio hosts monger hate and feed on irrational and untrue fears. But since my blog only has three readers who mostly agree with me, I'm sensing the last one is mostly useless.

Just know that I have things in the works and I promise to be more prolific now that my laptop is back and working. I'm not intentionally neglecting you, please know that. I'm just busy and trying to figure out a schedule that allows for everything I want to do.

The End Of Camelot

Ted Kennedy died a couple of days ago. He was 77. He'd been in the Senate since 1962. He co-authored 2,500 pieces of legislation. He was widely respected by those whom he served with. I'm sure a lot of Right-wing pundits and some newer, more vituperative politicians are happy. I think it's sad. Not just because he was a Kennedy. Not just because he was a Democrat. But because he understood the need for compromise. He understood that, at the end of the day, the men and women on the other side of the aisle were human and had constituents and they believed what they believed. Ted Kennedy was a passionate believer in helping people and in education.

I was born after JFK and RFK were assassinated. I was raised in the time of Reagan. But growing up, I read voraciously. That included books on my parents' shelf. I read RFK Must Die, over my father's objection when I was in high school. I read books by Robert and John Kennedy as well as about them. I have always believed in their brand of politics. Honestly, I never gave much of my attention to Ted Kennedy. But as I was listening to President Obama and Orrin Hatch talk about him on NPR yesterday, I realized I'd missed out. He was of the same persuasion as his brothers. He believed in helping the poor but not coddling them. He was a supporter of education and opposed to the war in Iraq.

I think that no matter what his political persuasion, he should be recognized for his years of public service. He served his constituents well. He served our country well. Maybe it's just me but it seems that we're losing the generations of Americans who understood compromise and sacrifice to be replaced with those who hate and refuse to meet in the middle. It's a sad day for us all when lying to get a "win" is more important than doing what's right for the people. As older, seasoned politicians die, they are replaced with those who see dirty tricks and "what's in it for me" as the way to go. We will all end up paying for that brand of politics. It's not what I believe and I wish more people felt the way I do.

The death of Ted Kennedy is truly the death of Camelot. While many of the Kennedy children have gone into politics and done many other worthwhile things, none have managed to claim the mantle of leadership now vacated by Ted. Despite his early personal issues, Senator Kennedy was a good Senator and should be remembered as such.

Iran

I have been watching with interest the events in Iran. As I have mentioned before, I was a political science major in college. Political Science is the study of government. It also involves the study of certain quasi-government or non-government organization (like the UN). My fascination with Political Science has nothing to do with politics. Because studying government - how it's formed, structured and functions - has little to do with politics in theory.

I think my favorite classes in college were the ones that focused on different governments. I took a comparative governments class, which deals with different types of government structures. You could even compare England and the U.S. because while we're both democracies, there are vast differences between the two forms of government. I also took classes that dealt with regional politics or certain countries. I took Latin American politics, Asian politics and Russian politics. The two things I missed were African and Middle Eastern politics. Not that the Middle East wasn't a big deal when I was in college, but it was a region that was, for the most part, on the back burner of world issues. We had the fall of the Soviet Union and it's aftermath and the Yugoslav civil war broiling when I was in college.

Maybe the fact that I didn't get a Middle East politics class in college has led me to be be fascinated with all things Middle East. I don't know. What I do know is like Burma and Tibet last year, the winds of democracy are trying to blow in Iran. I'm am not surprised by how this has all played out, however. And though I wish that a democratic revolution would happen, I do not think that it will.

A little on the modern history of Iran.

The map of the modern Middle East was largely formed after World Wars I and II. The lines delineating boundaries between nations were arbitrarily drawn. Leaders were installed in power who were friendly to the victors. The British had a long and tangled history with the Middle East, and especially Iran. Mostly because Iran has lots of oil. Aramco, the oil company that had rights to Iranian Oil was a British company. Aramco was supposed to share profits with Iran and the grunt workers were Iranians who lived in horrid conditions. The British, naturally, did not share the profits and found loopholes in their agreement with Iran to keep the lion's share of the money made from the oil.

As the British Empire waned, the United States, after WWII became the democratic superpower. The Middle East became, yet again, a chess board during the Cold War. In 1953, there were elections in Iran. A man was voted to be Prime Minister who was a little too far to the left and nationalistic for the West. So the United States and Britain helped plan and execute a coup that brought the Shah to power. The Shah was ruthless and squashed any opposition. His secret police and prisons were notorious. The Shah ruled with an iron fist until 1979.

In 1979, Iran had a revolution. An Islamic revolution. The Shah was deposed and lived in exile. The United States was seen as the Great Satan for giving the Shah refuge and for putting him in power in the first place and for being open and democratic and non-Islamic. I was barely old enough to remember the hostages and the students taking over the U.S. Embassy. It was the beginning of the end of our relationship with Iran.

Fast forward. The Iranians elects Mamoud Amahdinejhad President. There are those who believe that he was one of the students who took over the Embassy. He's kind of a nut. He denies the holocaust, hates the U.S. and Israel. I think that, like most places in the world, the actions of the government are not imputed to the people. That people everywhere just want to live and let live. So as the elections approached in Iran, it looked as though more democratic and moderate power might win.

This might be a good place to mention that Iran is really run by Islamic clerics. The President, etc do what the clerics tell them to. The Ayatollahs are the ones running the country. The Ayatollahs decided that it was not good to have a more moderate President or more democratic government. So they, in essence, rigged the election and told the world that Amahdinejhad won in a landslide. I do not think, however, they anticipated the reaction of Iranians to the election results.
  I am, again, thankful that I live where I do. We have elections and peaceful transfers of power and people don't die. We are fortunately to live in a place where we don't have to risk our lives to vote. We believe that our votes are counted and the loser relinquishes power peacefully. We don't have to protest election results with mass demonstrations.

I have watched Iranians of all ages and classes take to the streets in protest of the government's obvious rigging of the elections. And like the Shah before them, whom they detested so much, the Ayatollahs are using secret police and prisons to squash the protesters. They are shutting down lines of communication and expelling foreign journalists to keep what is going on and the brutal tactics used to repress the people out of the international spotlight.

I admire those who are willing to risk their freedom (however limited it may be) and their lives for their beliefs. I hope that the people of Iran who have been putting themselves at risk see some change. But I know that it will be hard to come by. Those who rule with an iron fist have a hard time relinquishing power. I find the situation truly ironic, as the Ayatollahs and students initially rebelled against the same stranglehold on power they now have. Maybe power does corrupt.

In Memorium

Today is Memorial Day. It is the day we set aside to remember all those Americans who have died in defense of this country. Despite my entirely liberal political bent, I have nothing but the utmost awe and respect for the men and women who choose to serve this country in the armed forces. It's a hard and thankless job. And it shouldn't be.

My grandfather (mother's father) was a PT Boat Captain during World War II. He served in the Pacific. He was a first generation American, his parents being from Germany. During WWII, if you were of German or Japanese descent, you could chose which theater you wanted to fight in. My grandfather, not wanting to fight cousins of his in the German military, opted to fight in the Pacific. PT (Patrol Torpedo) Boats were small, fast boats that were used to attack larger surface ships. My grandfather fought in some of the bigger battles of the Pacific during the war. I have a lot of his photos, including one of a dead Japanese soldier floating in the water. I have his official photograph when he graduated from the Officer's school in Newport, Rhode Island. I also have the eagle that he wore on his uniform. He served proudly and he told me a story one time about the "kids" on his boat, his crew, wanted a mascot. So they bought a monkey from some villagers. The monkey was a fine pet until the guns started firing and the noise scared it and it crapped all over the boat. He told me about the time they built a floating officer's club. He told me about the time a kamikaze missed their boat by 10 feet. He told me that he ran into George Halas, owner and coach of the Bears, for whom my grandfather played. They were talking about the upcoming preparations for the invasion of Japan. Halas asked if my grandfather was ready. He responded with some detail about his ship and George Halas said, "No, to play football when you get back." I cherish these stories. My grandfather was a member of the Greatest Generation and he served his country faithfully and proudly.

My father is a Viet Nam veteran. He enlisted in the Army because he would have been drafted any way. He served in Korea and Viet Nam. To this day, my father will not talk about his service. He once told me when I was a kid that he was like Radar on M*A*S*H. I don't think that's true. All I know is that he has a bronze star - the third highest award for someone in the Army. He was wounded and should have a purple heart but never received one. He was unable to wear his uniform home when he got out of the Army because of the sentiment at the time. He got out at the height of the anti-war movement. What a difference a generation makes.

I hate the war in Iraq. It was ill-conceived with no concrete plan to deal with the aftermath of invasion. There are so many things wrong with it. Because we invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan, are a mess militarily and other wise. As much as I think the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, I completely support every solider, sailor and marine serving. They are heroes. They walk into the face of death to protect us. There is nothing more noble than that to me. If I had my way, there would be no war. No parent would have to lose a child to combat. No mother would have to lose a son. But that is not the reality of the world. Many parents have lost children. Many wives have lost husbands and husbands have lost wives.

I have talked about the book "The Final Salute" by Jim Sheeler, based on his article in the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News. It's a wonderful book and to me, it exemplifies not only the ultimate sacrifice that soldiers give for their country, but its affect on all of us.I suggest that you all read it. It is a much more eloquent salute to the men and women who serve this country than I could ever write.

I just wanted to take time out today from dealing with my own self-inflicted drama and the mess that the world in general is, and recognize the brave men and women who sacrifice so much so that we can live peaceful, secure lives. And especially to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this country. And to their families and friends who have suffered the greatest loss. They are heroes. They are the reason that we have the ability to live safely and securely and only worry about things like what to make for dinner. Please take some time out today, whatever you're doing, to remember those who have served and those who have died so we can be free.

True Courage

The much ballyhooed, long-awaited post about Afghanistan is here. I could be lazy and direct you to this Dexter Filkins article about the subject. (By the way, I love Dexter Filkins. His book, The Forever War, is amazing and I suggest it to everyone who wants to know what Iraq and Afghanistan are like.) I suggest you read his article, but I have more to say so I will talk about what's going on. 

There was a law passed in Afghanistan, that President Hamid Karzi signed into law, which applies to the Shiite minority. One provision of the law makes it illegal for a woman to refuse her husband's sexual advances. Another provision requires the woman to have her husband's permission to work outside the home. A third provision makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to "make herself up" or "dress up" if that is what her husband wants. I'm not making this up. This law, more or less, makes a woman chattel (property) who is subject to her husband. It sanctions marital rape. The Afghan government is under enormous international pressure to repeal this law. President Karzi is saying the law is not in effect because it has not been registered. Many analysts think that he signed the law to appeal to the Shiites because he's up for reelection and is immensely unpopular in Afghanistan for his ties to the U.S. and the pervasive corruption in his regime. Either way, it doesn't really matter to me why he signed it. He signed it. He capitulated to a minority view and set women's right in Afghanistan back even farther than they were. Think about what this law is for a second before you continue reading.

The women in Afghanistan, who have been abused and repressed for decades (keep in mind this is one of the countries in the world where a woman can be stoned to death for being raped), took to the streets. The marched to the Parliament, carried signed, and chanted for repeal of the law. A group of men three times the size called them whores and told them to go home. They continued on. They made their voices heard.

To us, that may not seem like much. We live in a country where women are, for the most part, seen as equals. We can dress how we want. We can work where we want. We can be in the company of men who are not related to us. We will not be stoned to death if we are raped or if we have an affair. We can march and protest if we so choose. So it's easy to take for granted the incredible amount of risk it is for Afghan women to march on their government and protest this law. And the awe-inspiring courage it takes to stand up to a group of men who call them whores for standing up for their basic human rights.

As a country and as human beings, we CANNOT condone this law. We have to make it clear to President Karzi and the rest of the Afghan government that subjugating women for a few thousand votes is wrong. We have to be a voice for the voiceless. We have to exercise our tremendous power for those women. They have no power. And what little power they did have is being taken away. Write your representatives and the President and ask them this simple question -how would you feel if that law applied to your daughter(s). How would you feel if you knew that your sister's husband routinely raped her with impunity?  I realize that it's a different culture. But this is not cultural or religious. It's just dehumanizing and cruel.

I have said it before and I will say it again. If we want stability in that part of the world, we have to eliminate extremism. This law is extremist. It needs to be eliminated. Women need to be empowered and given basic human rights. The path to peace is paved with the empowerment and education of women. There is NEVER a justification to treat another person differently because of things they cannot control like gender and race.

I am truly awed by the courage of these women who marched and chanted and carried signs. They know that they took tremendous risks by doing so. But they stood up for themselves. We cannot abandon them. We need to show them that we see their courage and that we will stand with them until this law is repealed and they have the same rights and opportunities as their male countrymen.

I cannot imagine being born into a country and religion in which I have to hide behind a veil. And cannot dress how I want. I can go to school, but under threat of being attacked for doing so. I can't be in the company of  a man not related to me. I have to have sex with my husband (which could be an arranged marriage to begin with) whenever he decides. And I have to have his permission to work. I have to dress up and wear make up when he says. (You all know that would be the deal breaker for me. I hate to dress up and only wear makeup when I have to.) I can't imagine not being able to gather for my book club every month or watch a baseball game and drink some beers with my guy friends.

We cannot abandon these brave women to this fate. It will be a failure of humanity if that happens. They have given me a lesson in what courage is.