Spiegel Online reports with reference to the Malaysian newspaper Malay Mail (link in German) that police in Malaysia freed eight Indonesian prostitutes who were forced to have intercourse without contraceptives, and become pregnant, so the Malaysian child trafficking ring could sell the babies for about 4,400 to 6,600 Euros to Malaysian clients. The Indonesian women, two of whom were pregnant when they were freed, were allegedly lured into the country by promises to get jobs as “nannys”, and I’m not sure their “recruiters” weren’t aware of their cynicism.
The Veiled Barbie.
The NYT reports about the stunning success of a hijab wearing Barbiesque doll in the Middle East. Introduced in late 2003, the doll carrying the brand “Fulla” is reportedly available in “every corner store”. For those who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to afford the doll there is Fulla-branded chewing gum.
It’s an interesting development – as the paper reports, other companies, including Mattel, the owner of the Barbie brand, have product lines of veiled dolls marketed in Islamic countries, yet no foreign company was able to claim the cultural authenticity, that seems to have allowed Fulla to succeed to the extent she has.
Some seem to see this as a consequence of the growing cultural influence of conservative Islam in the Middle East, indicating that such a venture would not have succeeded 10 years ago, and that the doll serves well to perpetuate the importance of the veil –
“My friends and I loved Barbie more than anything,” she said. “But maybe it’s good that girls have Fulla now. If the girls put scarves on their dolls when they’re young, it might make it easier when their time comes. Sometimes it is difficult for girls to put on the hijab. They feel it is the end of childhood.” “Fulla shows girls that the hijab is a normal part of a woman’s life,” Ms. Ghayeh continued. She gestured behind her, at a pair of excited little girls examining a rack of Fulla-branded Frisbees and pool toys. “Now the girls only want Fulla.”
Not that I think it is appropriate to deny any woman the right to wear (or not wear) whatever she deems appropriate for whichever reason. However, while possible, it is unlikely that Fulla’s success is not at least partly related to recent geopolitical shifts in the Arab world – a region filled with peoples which are seemingly desperately trying reinvent their identities by reuniting their cultural and religious heritage with the world around them. So, while I’m sure that Fulla’s success will cause some concern among those hoping for the continously growing amount of young Arabs to achieve that, we know by now that it is usually a difficult and rather violent process. So I’m not sure Fulla isn’t actually a positive development.
Too bad that she will lead a rather lonely life – despite the fact that the company producing the doll is apparently called “NewBoy, Inc.”, there are no plans for a young handsome Arab Ken-doll.
F**K.
Believe it or not, there’s an encyclopedia page (wikipedia) that has an ordered listing of all films with more than 100 occurrences of the F-word.
The Glorious Eight 1
I just found this Washington Post article about The FBI finally joining the Bush administration’s War on Porn.
As Barton Gellman reported yesterday on page A21 of the paper,
“… the bureau’s Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad. … The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against “manufacturers and purveyors” of pornography — not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults.”
It’s got a lot to do with attorney general Alberto Gonzales ambitions and his acceptability to Christian Conservatives and thus isn’t really interesting – the US has a history of obscenity vs. free speech conflicts, just ask Larry Flynt. But politically motivated initiatives like this seemed to have been out of fashion since the Reagan presidency. Clearly, the new top-priority unit consisting of 8+1 porn-fighters will keep America’s thriving porn industry from further subverting “family values”… although, the recruitment may turn out to be harder than expected, as an agent told the reporter – on condition of anonymity-
“Honestly, most of the guys would have to recuse themselves.’ …
I guess this means we’ve won the war on terror,’said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. ‘We must not need any more resources for espionage.’
Among friends and trusted colleagues, an experienced national security analyst said, ‘it’s a running joke for us.’
A few of the printable samples:
“Things I Don’t Want On My Resume, Volume Four.”
“I already gave at home.”
I suppose one of the perks coming with this job would be government sponsored tickets to the annual San Francisco Masturbate-a-thon.
Smug
Ring out the old, ring in the… old? Doesn’t he look a little like he had a hunch?
Better Safe Than Sorry.
Besides, “Die Partei” clearly knows best how to protect expensive campaign material from vandalism…
A Future with Future.
To bad only 10300 people voted for “Die Partei” which was created by the editorial staff of the German satire magazine “Titanic”. I would have loved to seem in coalition talks. Their most important campaign promise was to rebuild the Berlin Wall. I suppose that might have suited at least the frustated Bavarians around Edmund Stoiber to some extent.
2nd price.
Gregor Gysi gets the second price in the category “most blatantly stupid campaign claim” for the line “Left policy deserves to be trusted because it means developing alternatives with the people.” The first price obviously goes to everyone depicted on a poster with the claim “better for the people.”
Property Issues
It’s a well known fact that property is not something people on the economic left have a lot of sympathy for. So it should not be too surprising to see that Oscar Lafontaine has appropriated Victor Hugo’s realisation that there are times when nothing is more powerful than an idea and put it on the poster in a way that looks lke it was his own… by the way, replying “we’re not mad” to his invitation (scribbled on the poster) was probably wrong – to some extent. While not as many people voted for the Linkspartei.PDS, it was still 8.7% (or 4,086,134 people) of Germans, 4.7% up from 4 years ago.
She never looked better.
Certainly not after the results were announced. Not even the little moustache someone painted above her upper lip seem to bother her. Stuff like that doesn’t bother people who have already discounted a clear-cut victory. However – losing bothers them. A lot. Return to this picture to see what I’m talking about when you’re watching the news these days.