Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

Beware the Women of ISIS: There Are Many, and They May Be More Dangerous Than the Men

This is an important study.  Click here.

QUICK TAKES

 

   ** New York Times:  "An Earthling's Guide to Black Holes"

   ** Rod Dreher links to major article - "How the Fight Over Transgender Kids Got a Leading Sex Researcher Fired."     Gender dysphoria clinic head gets canned because he is not politically correct enough and because of intellectual and moral cowardice of his superiors.  

   ** Caroline Glick - Israel's defenses in dire straits over Russian deployment of the S-400 and the projected purchase of the fatally flawed F-35.   Israeli air superiority now ended.

   ** Charles Murray - Explaining Trumpism: the white working class has legitimate reasons to be angry at the ruling class.  

   ** David French - Stop Using Israel's Example to Justify the Barbaric Practice of Drafting Women into Combat

QUOTE OF THE DAY - THE POWER OF A WOMAN TO BRING A MAN TO REPENTANCE

From Robert L. Short's dedication of The Parables of Peanuts: 

         For My Own Sweet Ellen Kay . . . of whom Professor Barth must have been thinking when he wrote,

              "If there is a way of bringing man to repentance, it is the way of the woman who refuses to let herself be corrupted and made disobedient by his disobedience, but who in spite of his disobedience maintains her place in the order all the more firmly . . ."

JESUS' FEMALE DISCIPLES

Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola make some often overlooked observations in their new (2012) book, Jesus: A Theography:  

"When Luke wrote his gospel, he referred to the twelve disciples with the shorthand phrase 'the twelve.'  But he also used another shorthand phrase: 'the women" or 'some women':

The Twelve were with him, as well as some women: Mary called Magdalene; Joanna, the wife of King Herod's cupbearer; Susanna; and many others.  They provided for them out of their resources."  [Luke 8:1-3]

And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid."  [Luke 23:55}

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.'  [Acts 1:14]

"Jesus and His disciples were not beggars; discipleship did not equal destitution.  Jesus and the Twelve had financial backers who supported the ministry, many of whom were women.  In fact, they had sufficient funding not only to warrant a treasurer but to elicit Jesus' insistence that His and the disciples' taxes be paid to Rome.

WOMEN MADE THE DIFFERENCE IN OBAMA'S WIN

Carrie Lukas observes:  (my bolding)

Yet here is something that’s pretty clear, even as the dust settles. Men would have elected Gov. Romney President by a wide margin. Women, who cast about 53 percent of the votes, gave President Obama about a ten-point margin and another four years in the White House.

This should be a wakeup call for everyone on the Right. I count myself among those who assumed — clearly wrongly in hindsight — that the “War on Women” rhetoric wouldn’t work. From my perspective, the Democrats’ campaign for women was flatly insulting, treating women as sex objects (appealing to them to vote with their “lady parts”) and helpless wards of the state (Julia). The charge that Republicans want to restricted access to contraception — that is, beyond returning to the pre-ObamaCare status quo when religious organizations were not forced to pay for others’ contraception — is so far-fetched that it’s almost hard to know how to counter, since just engaging in the discussion grants the question a legitimacy it doesn’t deserve.

Survey research leading up to the election consistently suggested that jobs and economy — not the so-called “women’s issues” — were top of mind for female voters (just as they were for male voters). This suggests that, in spite of the Administration’s record of massive deficits, intractable unemployment, and rising cost-of-living, women believe that their prospects were worse under the more market-centered, limited-government approach advanced by Romney-Ryan. In other words, women remain unconvinced that Liberty Is No War on Women.

This election confirms that conservatives must, simply must, expand the coalition of those supporting our principles to include more women. This will require a lot of ground work to show women how the ideals of limited government and free markets do not threaten women’s basic security, but in fact can be the foundation of a healthier, more secure, safety net and greater prosperity and opportunities for women, as well as men.  A more robust, sustained effort to start that conversation with new groups of women needs to start today. 

                              - Carrie Lukas is the managing director of the Independent Women’s Forum and co-author of Liberty Is No War on Women

FAKE WOMEN

John Stonestreet has produced  a badly needed corrective to the sexual illusions that imprison women and seduce men.  Both seek after that which does not exist.  Read on:  [Note:  The links in Stonestreet's commentary provide important additional reading]

Challenging Our Culture’s “Fake Women”

Listen Now | Download

The more I pay attention to our culture, the more I wonder if C. S. Lewis owned a crystal ball. Many of the works of this Oxford don who died almost fifty years ago seem more accurate today than when he wrote them. And this is especially true of “The Screwtape Letters.”

In an especially prophetic chapter, Uncle Screwtape explains to his demon nephew, Hell’s strategy for using imagery to derail human sexuality:
“We have engineered a great increase in…the apparent nude (not the real nude)… It is all a fake, of course; the figures in the popular art are falsely drawn; the real women in bathing suits or tights are actually pinched in and propped up to make them appear firmer and more slender than nature allows a full-grown woman to be. As a result we are more and more directing the desires of men to something which does not exist.”

If there’s a more perfect summary of how our culture views women, I haven’t found it. These images women have to compete with are always the same: flawless, impossibly slim and well-endowed. This standard is crushing for women because it’s not based in reality. Women are being compared to women who don’t actually exist.

And that’s where the real damage happens — and not only to young women, but to men. As Timothy Dalrymple argues in a recent blog post at Patheos.com, pornography is devastating the next generation’s sexuality not only because it’s addictive, but because it’s wildly inaccurate. Just like Screwtape, porn directs young men’s desires toward things and people that don’t really exist. It alters guys’ expectations of women. Where nature offers real women, porn offers edited actresses.  Where God creates daughters in His image, porn creates fantasies in our image — free pleasure without any requirements.

Meanwhile under all that paint, porn stars are still broken, little girls. “Someone rocked them to sleep,” writes Dalrymple. “Someone comforted them when they were afraid of the monster or the spider or the thunder. They have histories, dreams, they have souls.”

Mark Regnerus makes this even clearer in a groundbreaking piece from last year in “Slate” magazine. In it, he describes today’s “sexual economics” where the availability of fake women who look perfect and are interested only in sex has created a sort of market competition that distorts both genders’ ideas of what real women are actually like. In order to live up, many women start to act like their fake competitors. Meanwhile, men, says Regnerus, are only too happy to oblige. Thus, the vicious cycle of illusion keeps producing more brokenness.

So how do we break this cycle?

Well, for starters, we could imitate Julia Bluhm. Julia, a 14-year-old ballet dancer from Waterville, Maine, recently started a campaign that’s already changing the way her generation views women. Partnering with media activist organization SPARK Summit, Julia started a petition to “Seventeen” magazine to drop the heavily-doctored images of young women, and instead use real photographs. "Seventeen" agreed, and now, thanks to Julia and the 84,000 signees who joined her effort, the nation’s most influential teen magazine is promoting true beauty, without the airbrush.

We can learn volumes from Julia’s victory in our culture’s very real “war on women.” She’s making a difference because she rejects the illusions — and we’ve got to do the same.

On tomorrow’s "Two Minute Warning," I talk more about how sexual brokenness victimizes people, but especially women. This is part 2 of 4 in a series on sexual brokenness you can view at ColsonCenter.org. If you missed part one, it created quite a stir on YouTube — over 5000 views and dozens of comments. And I hope this one stirs comments, too — we’ve got to confront this confusion for the sake of our girls.

Further Reading and Information

Naked Women, Naked Girls
Timothy Dalrymple | Patheos.com | June 18, 2012

Sex Is Cheap
Mark Regnerus | Slate | February 25, 2011

Seventeen agrees to promote realistic beauty
Laura Murphy | World | July 10, 2012

When Sex Got a Divorce
John Stonestreet | ColsonCenter.org | July 12, 2012

The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis | HarperOne | 2002

The Gospel Coalition 2012 National Women's Conference

Wow.  I'm astonished at the wealth of information available at the TGC National Women's Conference website.  I heard only two talks online at the time of the conference last month, but now they are all available online either via Video or audio.   Avail yourself (whether a man or a woman) of these outstanding speakers.

An added bonus is that some of the women speakers were asked what books had particularly influenced them.  See the list of books here.  Prepare to have a feast.

SHOULD YOU GO TO THE STORE LOOKING GRUBBY?

Or to put it differently, would you agree that "fixing yoursel up a bit" is a way of being polite?   Match your thoughts with this article, a sure-fire discussion starter.  

Dr. Ben Witherington - Jesus and Women

Tomorrow night I'll be joining a Bible study on Acts, chapter one.  I read in v. 13 that after Jesus' ascension, the followers of Jesus gathered in an upper room.  Verse 14 reads: "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."

My mind went to the difference Christianity has made with regard to the status of women in the world and I recalled that Dr. Ben Witherington, professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, had written books on the subject.  So I did a quick internet search and came across this instructive eight-minute video. 

 

LEFTISTS WAR ON CONSERVATIVE WOMEN

Michelle Malkin lists some of the disgusting epithets thrown at her and other conservative women.  Plus, ShePAC strikes back at misogynist Bill Maher with a video.

GOOD NEWS - MICHELLE BACHMANN UP 9 IN TARGETED HOUSE SEAT

Feisty, well-spoken, issues-oriented Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) has emerged as a conservative hero in the House of Representatives.  It is great to hear that she is polling 9 points above her rival.  Ed Morrissey reports:

In each of the last three election cycles, Democrats have made the Minnesota 6th Congressional District a targeted race — especially so after Rep. Michele Bachmann became a nationally-known conservative activist. . . This year, though, a new Survey USA poll shows that Democrats have failed to mount a serious challenge. . .

Democrats want to take Bachmann out of the national mix and curtail her activism by nationalizing her elections.  Instead, she’s cruising to a convincing victory while helping other Republicans win in tough districts.

COMING SOON: GREAT AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE WOMEN CALENDAR

Doug Powers posts the notice on Michelle Malkin's blog: 

The Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute will soon be releasing their “great American conservative women” calendar for 2011.  Recognize anyone?

Powers says, "It’ll make the perfect give for any conservative college student who’s rooming with a liberal and needs something with which to cover up his 'American Democrat Women' calendar."

DESPERATE STAKES FOR WOMEN UNDER SHARIA

From the Washington Examiner editorial:

It is impossible to view Time magazine's cover photograph of Aisha, an 18-year-old Afghan girl whose nose and ears were severed by her husband and brother-in-law on the order of a Taliban commander, without shuddering in recoil. Her "crime" was nothing more than fleeing the hellish home of in-laws who had beaten and enslaved her. That Aisha's only recourse in the face of such abuse was to run and hide is testimony to the reality that, in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world that Sharia law prevails, women are at best second-class citizens. Sharia is the vehicle by which the most oppressive tenets of extreme Islamic religion become the civil law of any society on which it is imposed. In many such places, daily life for women and girls remains today much

Empowerment: Women Now Choose Objectification Over ‘Creepy’ Breastfeeding

What does one say about a woman like Kathryn Blundell, who says breastfeeding is creepy?  She claims she wants her body back and doesn't want a "teeny, tiny, innocent baby latching on where only a lover has been before."  I kid you not.  That is Blundell's published statement.  And believe it or not, she is the editor of the parenting magazine, Mother &  Baby.   Lori Ziganto offers her take:

What bothers me immensely is the fact that women now see their breasts as “fun bags” and as something meant for “lovers” only and not as a part of nurturing and motherhood. This concept epitomizes the very worst in female and motherhood degradation and it shows just how much damage the “sexual empowerment” fallacy, pushed by the Leftist Femisogynists, has caused. The thought that women should exist solely as sex objects is now rampant — even amongst women themselves.

The theory behind this whole article, in a woman’s parenting magazine, is that motherhood and nurturing a child is, as they always claim, a punishment. Something that results in the cramping of one’s “empowered” style. Sex is super fun! Motherhood? Not so much. Also, creepy. And anyone who says otherwise is a nutty wing nut liar!

They have ended up diminishing women and womanhood itself with these constant attempts to demonize motherhood and to try to turn it into a punishment and a detriment to one’s happiness. Instead of realizing that being a life bearing nurturer is one of the very best things about being a woman and is an attribute in and of itself, they constantly try to take that away, all in the name of some delusional perceived equality via sexual empowerment.  [more . . .]

Me:  Blundell represents the creepiness of a culture out of its mind, a culture in rebellion against the "created order" which God designed for the flourishing of all.

"BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT" FOR REPUBLICAN WOMEN

Seems so.  Click here.  (HT: Drudge)

MARK STEYN ON CAIRO UNIVERSITY WOMEN SPURNING WESTERN DRESS

 Steyn writes:

So now look at these two pictures: First, the Cairo University class of 1978, with every woman bare-headed; second, the Cairo University class of 2004, hijabed to the hilt.

 

Steyn again:

Whenever I give a speech on Islam, some or other complacenik always says, "Oh, but they haven't had time to Westernize. Just you wait and see. Give it another 20 years, and the siren song of Westernization will work its magic." This argument isn't merely speculative, it's already been proved wrong by what's happened over the last 20 years. Compare the Cairo University class of 1959 with those of the 21st century, and then see if you can recite your inevitablist theories of social evolution with a straight face. The idea that social progress is like the wheel or the internal combustion engine — once invented, it can never be uninvented — is one of the laziest assumptions of the Western Left.

Me:  This phenomenon is not being noted in the West!  Nor is the increasing Islamization of Turkey, etc. etc.

BEN WITHERINGTON - "WHY ARGUMENTS AGAINST WOMEN IN MINISTRY AREN'T BIBLICAL"

Well, I must say, Witherington marshals good arguments indeed.  Before reading his post, I had adopted John Stott's position (as I understood it), namely: welcome women on church staff but reserve the role of senior pastor for a male.   Actually, the whole issue of church structure leaves me with many questions.  But as to the role of women, I think Witherington's position requres serious consideration.

TWO WOMEN IMPRISONED IN IRAN FOR CONVERTING TO CHRISTIANITY GET THEIR DAY IN COURT

The story is here.  (HT: Wintery Knight via Reasonable Faith)

MARYAM AND MARZIEH: “We will not deny our faith”

In a dramatic session before the revolutionary court today in Tehran, Maryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30) were told to recant their faith in Christ. Though great pressure was put on them, both women declared that they would not deny their faith. Maryam and Marzieh were originally arrested on March 5, 2009 and have suffered greatly while in prison, suffering ill health, solitary confinement and interrogations for many hours while blindfolded.

On Saturday August 8, Maryam and Marzieh were summoned to appear in court on Sunday August 9 in order to hear a verdict on their case. The chief interrogator had recommended a verdict of ‘apostasy.’ However, when they arrived, no verdict was actually given. Instead, the court session focussed on the deputy prosecutor, Mr Haddad, questioning Maryam and Marzieh about their faith and telling them that they had to recant in both verbal and written form. This made it clear that in the eyes of the court, Maryam and Marzieh’s only crime is that they have converted to Christianity.

Mr. Haddad, asked the two women if they were Christians. “We love Jesus,” they replied. He repeated his question and they said, “Yes, we are Christians.”

Mr. Haddad then said, “You were Muslims and now you have become Christians.”

“We were born in Muslim families, but we were not Muslims,” was their reply.

Mr. Haddad’s questioning continued and he asked them if they regretted becoming Christians, to which they replied, “We have no regrets.”

MOVIE - "THE STONING OF SAROYA M."

- On the suffering of women under Islam (including honor killings), Phyllis Chesler remains a good source.  She comments on the Muslim mass murder in Canada currently under investigation.

 - As for the movie, "The Stoning of Saroya M." good background video can be found here.  Article excerpt:

The creator of The Stoning Soraya M. hopes the film will open the world's eyes to a brutal practice  that is still taking place today.

Zahra is an Iranian woman who meets a French journalist and exposes a brutal tradition in her village.  Her niece Soraya was stoned to death.

The gripping story is the focus of the feature film directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh.

"In modern-day Iran,  the victim is accused of a crime.  Usually it's adultery or sex-related crime, for which stoning is the punishment," he explained.  "And it is usually women who are the victim."

In this film the victim is Soraya.

Her husband, Ali, wants to dump her and marry a 14-year-old.  He then falsely accuses Soraya of cheating.  The punishment is being buried waist deep while the men in the village throw stones at her.

And this is a true story based on an international best-seller first published in 1994.    

Zahra is the brave woman standing up to the men.

She's portrayed by Shoreh Aghdashloo -- who actually left Iran 30 years ago, shortly before the islamic revolution.

Turning the light on a dark injustice is what moved big name stars like Jim Caviezel to be a part of the independent film.

Some reports suggest 1,000 women have been stoned in the last 15 years in a number of countries including Iran, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

MOVIE: "THE STONING OF SORAYA M."

There's been a lot of talk about this new movie.  Charles Colson offers a valuable introduction.

A woman is marched out of her small Iranian village, her arms are bound behind her back, and she is buried up to her waist in the sand. The villagers—including her own father, husband, and sons—fling stones at her, showing no sympathy or compassion as the blood runs down her face and soaks through her clothes. They stone her until they’re certain she’s dead, and then they leave her body on the ground for the wild dogs.

This is what audiences will see in the film The Stoning of Soraya M., made by the filmmaking team behind The Passion of the Christ. It opens in limited release on June 26. I haven’t given away any plot twists or surprises—the title of the film tells you all you need to know.

The Stoning of Soraya M. is based on a true story; in fact, you may have read the bestselling book when it came out in 1994. Journalist Freidoune Sahebjam was traveling through Iran when he

VIDEO OF JENNY SANFORD RESPONDING TO REPORTERS' QUESTIONS

Update 6/27/09 - AP print interview with Jenny Sanford

- (Original post) It's only about 46 seconds long, but worth viewing.  Click here.  The comments from viewers are interesting.  One says:

Good for her. Wow. The republicans sure have some strong women:  Palin, Lynn Cheney,  Jerie Thompson, Michelle Malkin, Michelle Bachman,  Jenny Sanford   --  Proud. Loud. STRONG

Update: I think readers will be interested in Cal Thomas' column, "Should we forgive him?"   Excerpt:

I once asked evangelist Billy Graham if he experienced temptations of the flesh when he was young. He said, "of course." How did he deal with them? With passion he responded, "I asked God to strike me dead before He ever allowed me to dishonor Him in that way."  [more . .]

Update #2 - I think readers will also want to read Charles Colson's reflections on the Mark Sanford affair.  Colson is disappointed, pained and angered.   He warns and admonishes:

Nearly every grave moral failure begins with a small sin. Because there comes a time, after we toy with sin, when one pull of the flesh causes us to cross the line, to disengage from reason, and to follow our appetites wherever they may lead. . . [more . . ]

HOW U.N. CONVENTIONS ON WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S RIGHTS UNDERMINE FAMILY, RELIGION, AND SOVEREIGNTY

From the Family Research Council:

Click here to download paper.

By Patrick F. Fagan, William L. Saunders, and Michael A. Fragoso

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

U.N. committees charged with offering guidance on the obligations incumbent upon nations that have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ("CEDAW") and the Convention on the Rights of the Child ("CRC") are, instead, advancing a radical agenda harmful to the best interests of societies and states, under the cover of providing review and recommendations. In doing so, these U.N. committees are decisively undermining the sovereignty of state parties to the treaties in matters that have always been within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states to decide. These committees have recommended -

• Legalizing prostitution and elevating it to the status of a profession
• Diminishing the legal protection of freedom of conscience
• Diminishing parental guidance for teenagers' emerging sexuality
• Promoting access to abortion, contraception, and other "medical" services for children without parental consent
• Promoting contraceptive use without regard to its social consequences
• Promoting abortion under the fiction of an international law mandate
• Demeaning traditional motherhood and those who support it
• Promoting professional child care for newborns
• Equating mild spanking of children by their parents with serious physical abuse
• Objecting to the influence of religion on society
• Objecting to the protection of rights of religious minorities

If these recommendations were followed, marriage and family would be further undermined, as would religious freedom.

MISS CALIFORNIA, CARRIE PREJEAN, AN EXEMPLARY CHRISTIAN?

Justin Taylor tries to synthesize two contrasting views, or at least suggest they are compatible.  Douglas Groothuis offers the tougher critique that turns out pretty hard to harmonize with the more gentle evaluation.

This young woman is a beauty queen, both ensnared by and loving that sad and silly skin game. However, the category should not exist. American society has created an unreal and cruel standard for women to reach: the beauty queen--a woman known for curves and perfect skin, heavenly hair and preternatural teeth. They prance and pose and preen; the cameras churn and burn; the media salivates and speculates. My stomach turns. It is all sinful a waste of the short time we have on this fallen planet.  [more]

Me: Groothuis is tough on beauty queens and beauty pageants.  No doubt about it.  There's a part of me, though (in fact a major part actually), that says he's right.  (The comments on the post are pretty interesting and worth reading.)

Update:  Nancy Leigh DeMoss offers her comments (text here; audio here) on the Carrie Prejean situation.  DeMoss says:

Phyllis Schlafly, 85 - Broken Hip

Michele Malkin says it accurately:

If Phyllis Schlafly were a liberal, she’d already have buildings and holidays named after her, MacArthur genius grants, countless women’s magazine covers, and the unending admiration of the media elite.

At 85, this mother, grandmother, and political icon remains a tireless activist, prolific author, and frequent lecturer. But because she is an unapologetic and outspoken conservative, she is demonized instead of lionized. . . 

She carried her message to the University of California at Berkeley on Tuesday, where she gave a talk on “Feminism vs. Conservatism.” The California Eagle Forums’ Orlean Koehle reports that while coming off the podium after giving her speech, she missed a step and fell and broke her hip.  (more . . )

Muslim Wife Beheaded in Buffalo, NY

-  You hadn't heard that?  Hmmm...  I wonder why not?  Could it be that the American Press, like the European press, tries to downplay anything negative about Islam?  To read more about the Buffalo crime and the murder of Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37 read Michelle Malkin's article, "The barbaric Muslim beheading in Buffalo." Read also Pamela Geller's coverage.  Read also Robert Spencer's response to the brief February 13th, Buffalo News article. Spencer also says:

The courageous warrior Pamela Geller has just posted at Atlas Shrugs a harrowing collection of photographs of honor killing victims. Scroll and scroll, and it just keeps going -- so many victims, and still these photographs represent only the tiniest fraction of honor killing victims worldwide. I've posted three here; there are many, many more.

Note that the vast majority of the victims pictured were living in America or elsewhere in the West. Yet the West, with all its humane values, did not save them -- it was too busy sacrificing at the altar of multiculturalism to waste its time with a few murdered women.

DENNIS PRAGER: "WHEN A WOMAN ISN'T IN THE MOOD"

Prager has produced a clearly-written, well-thought-out analysis that could strengthen a lot of marriages.  See Part I and also Part II.   Prager's work represents (unintentionally, I am sure) excellent commentary on I Corinthians 7:3-5. 

SHOULD POLITICAL WIVES BE EXPECTED TO STAND NEXT TO THEIR HUSBANDS AT NEWS CONFERENCES WHEN THEIR MAN CONFESSES SHAMEFUL SEXUAL BEHAVIOR?

I like Mark Hemingway's post.  A reader responds to my article on NRO today about why in tarnation political wives feel compelled to stand next to their husband at a press conference while he announces his depravity to the world:

. . . What I would like to see, however, is a politician show up without his wife and say: (1) she wanted to stand here with me; (2) I am grateful for her support; but (3) I told her "no" - I'm the one who failed and I'm the one who should bear the public scorn.

But that would require that one of these knuckleheads was, emotionally, a grown man.

That strikes me as exactly right. Suffice to say, I don't expect the next disgraced politician to protect his wife in such a manner...

Me: Nor do I, but it would be the right thing to do.  Be sure to read Hemingway's article to which the reader above is responding.

WHY ARE SO MANY WOMEN DEPRESSED?

Dennis Prager offers an answer.

A WOMAN'S TAKE ON CINDY McCAIN'S DRESS AND HAIRSTYLE

It's interesting to see with what detail one woman can analyze the dress and hairstyle of another. (I post this for the benefit of the ladies in my family).  Lisa Schriffren :

. . .  Last night was the very first time I've thought Cindy McCain looked really good this season. All through the campaign she has favored very sharp-shouldered jackets, (an 80's, Dynasty look), usually in hard and bright colors like tomato red. Her naturally thin frame doesn't need, or benefit from either the hard shoulder or the wasp-waist it is constructed to suggest.

Her hair, in that that glaring shade of platinum (too bright for a woman her age — see the combination of highlights and lowlights that Hillary has settled on for current state of the art "natural" artificial blondeness at a certain age) is usually pulled back into so taut a bun that it stretches her skin a bit around the eyes and cheekbones. That suggests both stiffness and an affinity for discomfort. Because she is tall, thin, and

Peggy Noonan Offers a Fascinating, If Somewhat Damning, Contrast Between Margaret Thatcher and Hillary Clinton

Noonan's article is well worth reading.

. . . Margaret Thatcher would no more have identified herself as a woman, or claimed special pleading that she was a mere frail girl, or asked you to sympathize with her because of her sex, than she would have called up the Kremlin and asked how quickly she could surrender.

She represented a movement. She was its head. She was great figure, a person in history, and she was a woman. She was in it for serious reasons, not to

Does Anyone Besides Me Find This Picture Depressing?

(HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez )

Kay S Hymowitz - The New Girl Order: SYF (Single Young Females)

This article reveals a worldwide trend with significant repercussions for generations.  Consider these mind-blowing statistics:

. . .  in 1960, 70 percent of American 25-year-old women were married with children; in 2000, only 25 percent of them were. In 1970, just 7.4 percent of all American 30- to 34-year-olds were unmarried; today, the number is 22 percent. That change took about a generation to unfold, but in Asia and Eastern Europe the transformation has been much more abrupt. In today’s Hungary, for instance, 30 percent of women in their early thirties are single, compared with 6 percent of their mothers’ generation at the same age. In South Korea, 40 percent of 30-year-olds are single, compared with 14 percent only 20 years ago.

That's only the beginning.  Read on for a whole lot more. This is one of those articles that alters the way you view the world. 

Sharia in Action: The Case of Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi

** Update 2/15/07  - Stephen Brown explains how Nazanin Afshin-Jam, an Iranian-Canadian and a 2003 Miss World Canada and runner-up at the Miss World competition, organized support for her namesake, Nazanin Fatehi, which helped secure her release from a death sentence in Iran.   Brown concludes his account:

"But the struggle to free Nazanin Fateh proves that if women take matters into their own hands, even misogynistic mullahs and cruel Sharia law will yield."

** Update 1/31/07 -Kathryn Jean Lopez posts the latest:

Nazanin Fatehi has been released by the Iranian government. (More on the case of this poor girl terrorized by the Iranian government for defending herself here.)

** Update 1/19/07  Kathryn Jean Lopez posts another important article on Nazanin Fatehi

Nazanin is an Iranian girl who, in March 2005, when she was 17, was walking in a park with her 15-year-old niece. Two men assaulted them, trying to rape them. In fending off the attackers, the older girl stabbed one of the men. He later died. For nearly two years she has been sitting in an Iranian jail facing execution. Last week — at last — she was exonerated of the murder charge. Thank heavens for outside pressure, which gave Nazanin a second chance.

Human-rights activist Nazanin Afshin-Jam, in a compelling new documentary online at Bodog.com, points out that Nazanin Fatehi would have been in trouble even if she hadn’t resisted the rapists: “Had [she] allowed the rape to take place, she could have still been charged with acts incompatible with chastity and given 100 lashes. . . . If she [had been] married she could have been sentenced to death by stoning.” In this gripping documentary we hear the poor girl crying out over a telephone from Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, “I want to go home to be with my mother.” And we hear her mother say, “I want people to help me get my daughter’s freedom.”

** Update 1/15/07 - Iran is not going to kill Nazanin Fatehi.  Nazanin could be freed on bail immediately.   (HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez at the Corner)

---

Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi is an Iranian teenager who was sentenced to be hanged for murder by an Iranian court.

Michael Ledeen of NRO's "Corner" wrote today:

An Iranian woman sentenced to death for defending herself against rapists.  An American blogger calls on America's first Muslim Congressman to rise to the occasion and defend her.  A reminder of the nature of our enemies. All in a few elegant paragraphs.  Read it, please.

Kathryn Jean Lopez  followed up saying the new Congress can save Nazanin: 

That is a great pressure post from Powerline. There's a new documentary online about Nazanin's plight here.

For more background see my interview with her greatest defender, Iranian-born Nazanin Afshin-Jam, a former Miss World Canada.  And an earlier challenge to the U.N. here.

MUSLIM RAPE? THEY WERE ASKING FOR IT

A Western Muslim leader says unveiled women deserve to get raped.  Robert Spencer covers the story with analysis here.

WOMEN IN ISLAM

I am indebted to a fine piece of blogging by Sister Toldjah.   Here is excellent commentary on Islamic convert Yvonne Ridley (who praises the veil) and Asra Q. Nomani, a Muslim woman (not a recent Western convert) who writes candidly about the travail of women in Islam.   Both women published articles in the Washington Post the same day.    The Anchoress weighs in with fine commentary as well.  Both these blog posts are well worth reading.  Additional links on each site offer well-rounded complete commentary.

MUSLIM WOMEN AND THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born former Dutch member of Parliament now living in the United States, urges European governments to deal with their Muslim immigrant problem by promoting the education of Muslim women.  Below are a few excerpts from a recent article:

For a while now I have been asserting that the most effective way for European Union governments to deal with their Muslim minorities is to empower the Muslim women living within their borders. The best tool for empowering these women is education. Yet the education systems of some European Union countries are going through a crisis of neglect, particularly with regard to immigrant children. We are paying the price of mixing education with ideology. However, let me stick to the important subject of freeing women from the shackles of superstitious belief and tribal custom.

The biggest obstacle that hinders Muslim women from leading dignified, free lives is violence--physical, mental, and sexual--committed by their close families.  .  .   . [Hirsi Ali gives examples]

European policy-makers have not yet understood the huge potential of liberating Muslim women. They are squandering the single best opportunity they have to make Muslim integration a success within one generation. Morally, governments need to eradicate violence against women in Europe. This would make clear to fundamentalists that Europeans take their constitutions seriously. Now, most abusers simply think that Western rhetoric about the equality of men and women is cowardly and hypocritical, since Western governments tolerate the abuse of millions of Muslim women when they're told it's in the name of freedom of religion.  .  .  .

Why are European leaders so slow to appreciate the great role Muslim women can play in a successful integration of immigrants in the European Union? Some blame can be attributed to the passivity of universities and non-governmental organisations in addressing immigrant women's rights. The academic community unanimously condemns violence against women, whether it is committed by family or the state, but it has been negligent in investigating and providing the necessary legal framework and data to help policy-makers make women's rights a priority.       

Andrew Strattaford  posted a briefer portion of this article on the Corner blog.  His comment?   

Well said. On the other hand, here's what the government of Tony Blair (fearless freedom fighter, Neocon idol, champion of the West, you know how it goes) is up to (via the Times): "The Government dropped plans to make forced marriage illegal in June, after the Muslim Council of Britain cautioned that it could be "another way to stigmatise our communities"...    Appalling. Cowardly. Typical.