Current affairs bloggerette!

Boys!

Another list of eye candy. For all you goddesses and also all you queens out there.

Mostly my blog contains hot women. And it might surprise you to know that I am not just any hetero female, but a really boy crazy one. So, here is my lost of beautiful sexy men.

 

10. Larry Scott- This is the guy that I just found out that Ive been masturbating to for the last 10 years. Thank you once again wikipedia. Now I know who to stalk. Like the effect Steve Mcurry's afghani girl with green eyes had, this one picture made a permanent impression on anyone that can appreciate male beauty.

9. Kevin Smith- I remember flipping thoruhg channels one night and just stopping, mesmerized, amazed that a man could really be this gorgeous. And then I had the misfortune of getting semi addicted to Xena warrior princess.

8. Peirce Brosnan- This is the man that straight women, gay men, lesbian women and straight men alike will admit is damn good looking.

7. Rufus Sewell- Saw him in A knight's tale and fell in love and then fell in love again when he was the villain in Zorro 2.

6. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers- He was fine in Bend it like Beckham. He was even more fine as hell in Match point. Mmmmm. That body, that accent, that face...

5. Billy Zane- There are a lot of reasons to dislike Titanic. The number 1 reason is because your supposed to identify with a heroine who is suicidally depressed because she has to marry a guy who looks like Billy Zane. And not only looks like him- is filthy rich and buys her giant diamonds in exchange for sex.

Billy, you dont have to get me diamonds. In fact I would screw you if it gave me gonorrhea. So fine!

4.  Hrithik roshan- Ashwarya is to female what Hrithik is to male- perfection. Perfect height, body, face- everything. He's played an al quaeda lackey in at least 2 movies and both of them made me like "I hate freedom! Kill 'em hrithick! You're so hot you must be right!!"

3. Matthew McConaughey- He isnt my usual type, which is tall dark and handsome. He is tall fair and handsome. And I almost didnt put him on the list because his name is hard to spell. But I remembered failure to launch. He's so cute. Dont launch baby, stay with me!

2. Gerard Butler- In 300 he had presence and abs of adamantium. But I fell in love with his rugged masculine voice in Phantom of the opera. Even with a half deformed face, he's better than I'll ever do.

1. Christian Bale. He is still number one. You know how hot Christian Bale is? He is so hot that you can put him in a movie where he cuts women up with axes and everyone just talks about how amazing his body is and how fine he is and how handsome he is. This guy makes people want to be Bateman. And you know what, ladies, you know who his dad married? Gloria Steinem. That means Christian must be some sort of a feminist too. So, if you ever think of toning down your feminism or something so you can appeal more to men, remember Gloria built her whole life on being a radical feminist and she married the creator of this:

So anyone that is thinking "But Bloggerette is supposed to post chicks." or "Lame. I want tetas." Well, here is your eye candy: April Scott- Jessica the Elder's replacement for Dukes of Hazzard straight to soft core channel movie.

More Bush derangement syndrome...

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=93980&d=22&m=3&y=2007

or read it here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/22/wrove22.xml

What is wrong with this fuckwit? Is Bush not aware what a democracy is?

How does it even occur to him to take the attitude that he is generous by deigning to answer questions behind closed doors?

A man with some integrity would gladly answer questions under oath in public. How does it not occur to this administration that they can't just hire their own cronies and fire everyone who dissents? How does it not occur to them that they cant be investigated in secret without documentation? 

This investigation compromises political power? Genius comment, since the investigation is about filling roles created by the patriot act, which was Bush's own addition to political power that a president is not supposed to have.

This man is Marie Antoinette reborn.  And  his  reign  inspires every thinking person to wish for the guillotine to be reborn so it can chop off the brainless head that is our head of state.

America's real top models!

Most of the contestants on America's next top model are nothing special. But today's list is one of America's all time top models. Actually, I lie. Most of these models aren't American. And some of them aren't even models. But that's ok. They are still hot in America.

In no paticular order:

10. Sophia Loren- With measurements like 38D-24-38, Sophia Loren is a beauty to remember.

9. Adriana Karembeu (formerly Adriana Sklenarikova) She put wonder into wonderbra. And in case the holocaust didn't convince you, the nazis were out of their mind when they thought slavs were less physically perfect than them.

8. Aishwarya Rai- She makes this list because I have never ever seen a bad shot of her. She might be the only person in the world that actually has no bad side. And if you lined up all former miss worlds and picked the best one amongst them, Aish would win by a landslide.

7. Shana Zadrick- A supermodel of the 80s, Shana never became Iconic. But I challenge history's oversight and put her on the top ten list because her face is incredibly striking.

 
 

6. Cindy Crawford- The most successful model in history. Not only has she appeared on hundreds if not thousands of magazine covers, but she was valedictorian of her high school and got into Northwestern on a full scholarship for chemical engineering. A nice girl from the midwest that should make anyone proud to be American.

5. Briget Bardot- This sixties siren from France cannot be forgotten. Oh and like me, she's a politics junkie.

4. Naomi Campbell- She is the world's most successful runway model. Virtually the only model that can do every runway- swimsuit, fashion, lingerie. She stayed on top of the top from the 80's buxom athletic craze to late 90s heroine chic to today's search for unique looks. Unlike Janice Dickenson, who thinks she is still model material, Naomi Campbell is still sought after by top designers even though she is 37. That's amazing.

3.  Heidi Klum- Germany's heir to Claudia Schiffer (and I give her an honorable mention) and Victoria Secret's hottest. Or at least the one with the broadest appeal.

2. Yasmeen Ghauri- Another not so famous model, Yasmeen Ghauri was big when Victoria Secret sought curvy and only curvy and didn't care so much for cheekbones that pounce at you or athletic musculature. Yasmeen is just plain gorgeous.

1. Nadja Auermann- Set the guinness book record for longest leg to height ratio. She looks a bit like Adriana Karembeu but it was her look first.

Taking America back to the left...

I have learned that America is either a slow but intelligent country or a slightly stupid country.

So, The US right now supports either Giuliani- the liberal Republican or democrat candidates. So much for Christian family values. The country that once elected Bush because repubs had the political acumen to get gay marriage bans on state ballots, has long forgotten about all of this.

The problem was, of course, the war in Iraq. The Bush admin spewed the same nonsense bullshit about the war for 5 years and one day America woke up like sleeping beauty. One day in 2005, Bush's approval ratings just began to plummet.  The war in Iraq cost lives and accomplished nothing for the war on terror. Bush's  self defined axis of evil  only became stronger while the real  culprits in terror became even stronger than them as Bush didn't really understand who they were.

The thing is, the trouble with the war on Iraq doesn't necessarily have anything to do with right wing domestic concerns. Gay marriage, flag burning, stem cells-  they may all be backward concerns of the right,  America still decided to abandon them because of a poorly executed war in another country. Call me a cynic, but I don't think America has really grown up. They are frustrated with the war and the people that took them there, but they really aren't thinking about how they feel about social policy. It isn't as though America woke up and saw through republican vote gimmicks like voting on a flag burning amendment 4 months before the 2006 election. It's simply that they were too frustrated about the war to turn against democrats for being 'unpatriotic' enough not to ban it. Deep down, America is still the same right of center country that doesn't want to see gays marrying, wants abortions banned or close to banned and wants vouchers so that parents can home school their children or send them to private schools. 

And I know what this means for democrats. It means if they manage to control the house, the senate and the executive, they need to leave Iraq. Leaving *is* the irresponsible thing to do. America made Iraq the mess it is and it is our responsibility to see this through. But it is also politically advantageous to leave. If we leave, Iraq will be lost to forces of extremism and violence. The Sunnis and shias will continue to terrorize each other and if they attempt democracy, the same extremists that lead militias will be quite influential in shaping politics. The extremists wont disappear if people vote- they will only be legitimized (but that doesn't mean we can't buy oil from them).

And under the assumption that America is a dumb country, American voters will not see leaving as a sign of irresponsibility. When Iraq turns into a greater chaos, they will see it as a sign that Arabs are hopelessly backward and the Bush administration was entirely foolish to think they were capable of a successful democracy. This will keep the democrats in power long enough to safeguard domestic secularism. Our country will have gay marriages, late term abortions and  they will learn established scientific ideas in public school. Our country will have these things even if vast majority of this nation does not want them (and they don't).

It's the flip side to the same game republicans played from 2000-2006. They came to power on nonsense social conservative issues and used their power to advance unpopular wars, fiscal policies that made no sense and unlimited crony-ism. Now the  democrats can come to power by rectifying the republicans failed fiscal and foreign policies and use that power to once again shove civil liberties down America's throat.

It gives the left a maximum of 8 years and probably less because they will not be able to hold on to the legislature for that long. In these few years, the left must convince America that they want all civil liberties as defined by the civil rights movement. The left must convince America that intelligent design does not belong is schools, that abortions are a woman's right and that marriage is a fluid concept that depends on how society defines it. This is an enormously difficult task that is nowhere close to happening. Al Gore and the academy awards have it right. Screw politics. To hell with grass roots. Reach out to America through mass media. Not elitist media that the masses hate like the New yorker- but through real lowest common denominator mass media- blockbuster movies with pretty faces for leads, Christian rock groups and widely loved preachers.

Right now, the left is doing the smart thing by saying nothing about the really controversial issues like abortion and sticking to the easy blows against the Bush admin. The majority of this country favors embryonic stem cell research. Good- time to make Bush look stupid about his opinion of it. The majority of this country is ignorant about global warming, but the looking anti-environment is a sure way to look cruel and backward. Everyone likes the environment, so it's a good time to harp on about how Bush does the environment no favors.

I don't think this will work forever though. Eventually, the left will have to face the hard issues and get America on their side. As republicans have shown me- even if America is a dumb country, you can't pull the wool over its eyes forever.   

What is this random image of tera patrick for? I learned that people like to look at hot naked women. So, this blog will be like playboy and include pictures of hot women along with stories that have no relation to said pictures. If it works for hef, it'll work for me right?  *Someone* must read the articles in playboy!

Gratuitous flesh shots...

So, I check my page views and surprise surprise, the page with the most views is the one with the least text and of course, a picture. So, I see that some people *cough* (male people) are less interested in current events and more interested in satisfying current urges to seek out hot chicks.

Well, as a believer of democracy I will give the people what they want!

Today's topic is all the girls you wish you'd see more of. Because the A list is full of the gorgeous and the glamorous. But how about the B list and below? Well, here is a list full of pics of the girls that never really went all that far despite their looks...

10. Summer Altice- So, Summer Altice didn't exactly not make it. She did a MAXIM cover, after all. But with looks like hers, she should be blowing the Victoria Secret angels out of the water.

9. Olivia Burnette- So obscure that I can't even find a decent picture of her. I haven't seen her since the Torkelsons, but I remember how strinkingly pretty she was. Odd that she didn't go further. She was a convincing actress to boot.

8. Leslie Bibb- I saw in the Skulls and the mid nineties WB TV series, popular. And that's it. But her looks are reminiscent of Keira Knightly. Not a bad actress either.

7. Kataxenna- Honestly, she doesn't do much for me, but guys just looove that itty bitty teensy weeny waist. I must say it's impressive.

6.  Christy Romano-  The disney bombshells included Hillary Duff, Lindsay Lohan and Christy Romano and oddly Christy Romano, the prettiest one, wasn't nearly as successful as the other two. To make matters more surprising, Christy can actually sing- better than Hillary Duff can at least. Christy Romano also used to be confused with Emmy Rossum, but now that Emmy Rossum has taken off, Christy remains known as "that Disney girl".

 

5. Tully Jensen- Also so obscure I cannot find a decent picture of her. Her looks are KILLER. She was the ditz model in "models" on sex and the city and briefly married to Antonio Sabado Jr.

4. Hudson Leick- Remember Xena, warrior princess. Don't lie. You remember it! And like me, you probably watched it too for the gratuitous hotness. Hudson Leick, who I haven't seen since Xena, was amongst the hottest on that show.

3.

  Tricia Helfer- Saw her on battle star gallactica. WOAH. Fine as all hell. And a convincing actress too.

2. Ali Landry- Still known as doritos girl. When *everyone* remembers a girl off a commercial, you know she's hot.

1. Veronika Zemanova- The story of Veronika Zemanova is hillarious. She was a photographer until her equipment was stolen and she couldnt afford to buy new stuff. Conveniently, she's about the hottest woman on earth, so she just started modeling for all the other photographers she knew. I'm still not over the fact that this chick got into photography before modeling. Boggles the mind.

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Color

I happened to be reading a blog where someone commented that Indians don't have light eyes and then out of the woodwork all these angry Indians came to defend their light eyes. They also described their light skin, brown or even blond hair. Many claimed that their lineage had no caste mixing, which caused their fair skin.

It's a funny thing. I always forget how much Indians care about skin color. Is it part of being Indian? I've never been one for patriotism. If it's not the virtue of the vicious, it's at best the virtue of the parochial. But one thing that makes me glad to be born and bred in the US of A is that I have very little notion of this skin color issue.

It's so odd. My family has a friend, a young girl- Meena, and we once worked in a hospital together. Everyone would comment on how beautiful she looked. And I concurred. 5'5", 105 lbs and a perfect C cup!  And she was so pretty! I once told my mother that my brother would be lucky to marry a girl like that. And my mother said "that girl? But she is so dark!"

Dark? I never thought of that. But yes, when I made a conscious effort, I realized that Meena was one of the darkest Indians I knew. Then my mother said, "Yes, I guess she is pretty. I never really noticed." Funny that cultural standards can both define and obscure natural beauty.

It's amazing that even educated Indians hold on to this notion that skin color has something to do with attractiveness. It's curious too. Sometimes, I want to make my own "matrimonial" classified just so I can write, "I have this and that degree, I have good values, I am family oriented and sweet. And anything else?... oh right, am I fair? Fair? I'm Tamilian. If you want fair, why are you trying to marry another tamilian? We're not a fair people, if you hadn't noticed.  I'm fairer than a crow. I'm fairer than volcanic rock and I'm fairer than a black hole. Ta ta."

I guess I would also have to write what caste I was part of in this overly candid matrimonial ad. I remember learning about the caste system when I went to India when I was twelve. My cousin said, "Of course we don't eat meat. We're all Brahmin." and I said, "what's a Brahmin?"

Coincidentally, I did and still do eat meat- *any* meat. An unfortunate habit I try to give up, but God really shouldn't have made cows out of steaks if he didn't want me to love eating them so much. Anyways, my cousin, shocked, did not explain what a Brahmin was, but told me that in a way I was lucky that I did not know.

I asked my mother and she told me some story about how Brahmins were descendants of Aryans and never mixed with the other castes, especially not the Dravidian types. They were the dark ones. It was only years later that an uncle explained to me that wealthy men of all castes took concubines of other castes, especially lower castes. So really, we were all mixed.

Sounded about right to me. I see people of all shades in my family, at least. And I can't really differentiate between shades of Indians anyways since I am so used to seeing white people. My mother came to the US when she was 15 and she has integrated herself into non Indian communities. Plus, after my parents divorced, my father fell in love with a German woman. I know that my step mother is fair. I am told my father is fair too, but since I always see him next to my Caucasian step-mother, it's difficult for me to see. And I honestly have no idea if I am considered fair or dark. I know I am darker than my friends, who are mostly Caucasians. I guess I've never seen myself next to other Indians in the mirror.

To me, they are all just south Asians. It's a blissful but pathetic ignorance. On one hand, my inability to distinguish complexion types probably comes from my psychological distance from Indian culture- the culture that raised several millenia of my ancestry. But on the other hand, my ignorance lets me preserve my childlike innocence about race and caste. It's not like I as though I live in a land where racism is unknown. It's just that I live in a place where racism within people of the same race is unknown to me. Since I go days and days without seeing anyone of your own ethnicity, when I see them, I only think "they are like me" and I forget how our skin might actually be completely different.

 

I have just discovered this bizarre and disturbing site. How has this guy not been sued yet?

http://www.fatchicksinpartyhats.com/

To most, this is old news. But it's new to me. There are some deranged people on the internet...besides me, that is.

Mccaine goes Reicht!!

Wilbie Walbie woo! The elephant sat on you!

Wilbe Walbie Wee! The elephant sat on me!

Wilbie Walbie Jerkaine! The elephant sat on Mccaine!

Wilbie Walbie Mccaine! The elephant's started Jerkin!

--What the fuck is this post? I dont know. It's s fun song. Rudy leads Mccaine by 10-20% in just about every state! Go Rudy!

Also, Obama trails hillary in surveys of democrats, but surveys of all likely voters show that Rudy would kill Hillary while Obama is only a couple of % points behind. Hope the dems have the sense to make Obama the front runner.

Fiction is fun!

I wrote this story a while back. It was fun. Hope you like it!

Kitty started the debate. “Batman is a fascist.”

As usual, Joe didn’t get it. “How is Batman a fascist?”

Kitty lifted her arms up. To her it was obvious. “He uses violence to solve problems, works outside elected laws, imposes his authoritarian will without any regard for normal legal procedures. He’s a goddamn fascist.”

Joe still did not get it. “Well, Batman is the good guy. The evil penguin fatso and dude with big teeth and lipstick are the bad ones.”

Kitty wouldn’t let it go. “Didn’t the evil penguin fattie run for election as mayor? Even that shows more respect for democratic processes than Batman the fascist undie exhibitionist.”

“But Batman is still good.”

Kitty jumped up. She ran into her closet. “Fine. Then I’m going to be a fascist. Fascists are heroes! I’ll be Fascist-bat-babe, hero girl of tomorrow!”

“You weigh like eight pounds. How are you going to kick anyone’s ass?”

Kitty shuffled around the closet, but didn’t come out yet. “Tell Bruce Lee he’s too small to kick ass. I’ll kick ass with my retractable adamanthian claws.”

“That was Wolverine from the X-men, not Batman.”

“That’s fine. The X-men were fascists too. They believed in the same things. Plus the X-men believed in their own genetic supremacy. Total fascists.”

“They did not-“

Kitty interrupted, “And Frodo Baggins. Another fascist. All heroes too.”

“How the bloody fuck was Frodo a fascist?”

“Hello. He genocided the orks. Plus, he kept that Smeegle thing as a slave. Fascist all the way. Then Elijah Wood played that cannibalistic child molester freak in Sin city. I ask you this, why did the same actor that played Frodo then play a cannibalizing child killer?”

Joe had no answer.

“He was a fascist, exactly. You see it now.”

Kitty dashed out of the closet with hands on her hips. She wore a blonde Marylyn Monroe wig, a vintage dress suit and fake eyelashes. She would have looked elegant had she not stuffed her dress into oversized thongs.

Joe had to ask, “Why are you dressed up as Marylyn Monroe with your thong over your skirt?”

“Hello. I’m not Marylyn Monroe. I am dressed as Eva Peron, beloved fascist queen of Latinos everywhere”

“What are you called?”

Kitty outstretched her arms and pranced around the bedroom. “I am…Peronista girl. The fascist bat hero of tomorrow!”

Joe shook his head. “I don’t think Eva Peron would have been caught dead with her dress stuffed in her thong.”

“It’s hot. Batman wears his underwear on the outside. And Britney Spears!”

“Does that make her a fascist too?”

“She’s a total demagogue. Sure.”

Joe sat on the bed. “Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism, but at least Nazis had cool clothes. You don’t even have that. Sorry, I just never got the thong outside the clothes thing.”

“Whatever. Hot people are allowed to do it. Christian Bale played batman. He was ultra fine even with a mask with rubber bat ears. Fascists are sexy. Look out super villains!”

“Who exactly are the super villains you fight anyways?”

Kitty put her tiny finger to her lip and thought for a second. “Well…ok…just think about it. What are the natural enemies of bats?

I mean, bats are giant blood sucking bugs, so-“

Joe stopped her, “They are not bugs. Bats are rodents.”

“Ok fine. Natural enemies of rodents are well, eagles for one. Eagles eat rodents.”

Joe looked at her ensemble of hot pink thongs pulled over a business skirt “You’re going to fight eagles dressed like a transvestite suffering from fashion dyslexia?”

She shook her head. “Well, eagle is the symbol of the US. The US is therefore the natural enemy of bat heroes.”

“Ok. So, aside from just the little old US, anyone else?”

“Well, elephants hate rodents. They like scream when they see them.”

Joe looked up, confused.

Kitty continued, “Elephants symbolize republicans. I will fight republicans starting with their nefarious overlord, president Chimpy Mccokespoon and that evil henchman dude he likes. The one with the squinting eye.”

“I think they call him Dick Cheney.” Joe looked Kitty up and down and added, “This is probably the most idiotic idea in the history of mankind.”

She approached him and punched his shoulder. It hurt her wrist. “Oh my god. Please. Remember when they let Keanu Reeves play neo in Matrix.”

Joe nodded. He remembered the tragedy.

Kitty continued explaining, “What the fuck? The world is going to be saved by the monotone bimbo boy of doom with magical sunglasses?”

“Well, ok. That was perhaps even worse than the fascist bat nut who strives to look like Britney spears.”

“Eva Peron”, Kitty corrected him.

“Right.”

Kitty made her final point, “Worse, you see. Keanu as Neo was worse. So, ok then. I rest my case.”

And then they had crazy bat fascist sex.

The end.

Hypocrisy of "progressives"

So, I am looking on one page of one website-

http://www.commondreams.org/

Its call breaking news for the progressive community.
The bold title at the top celebrates international women's day.

Now here are a collection of articles:

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0308-26.htm

Because when Bush doesnt fund abortions for women in africa, its terrorism.

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0308-35.htm

Because saying vagina is empowerment

And then-

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0304-25.htm

Last sentence says:

Negotiating a deal with Taliban and other Afghan resistance forces is the only way out of this morass, not expanding a war that is already lost.

Then this article:

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0304-24.htm

The Pakistanis believe the allies did have a chance to get it right after toppling the Taliban in 2001 but have since blown it, and are now further hobbled by:

Failing to distinguish between Al Qaeda, which has global terrorist designs, and the Taliban, which is fighting against the foreign presence in Afghanistan and for a greater share of power for fellow Pushtuns, who are 60 per cent of the population but are under-represented in Karzai's Kabul

---------------

Wait, so if a woman cant get an abortion funded by the US government, its terrorism, an affront to the page's title "the struggle for equalityand freedom" (for women). But we have to negatiate with the taliban and understand tha they're just looking out for their fellow pashtoon even though the taliban doesnt allow abortion, in fact it doesnt allow birth control, in fact it demands that women that have unwanted pregnancies be stoned to death, in fact it demands that they can be stoned to death for the mere rumor that they could have had sex which would lead to an unwanted pregnancy. Aside from women, we're going to just ignore that the Taliban when in power tried to commit genocide (and often succeeded) on all of the other 40% non pashtoon peoples of afghanistan.

Remeber- Bush must give US support to abortions and saying the word vagina. He should also withdraw support from fighting Taliban elements who stone pashtoon women and kill the non pashtoon women. Such is the spirit of INTERNATIONAL women's day.

"Progressives" on women- Some are more equal than others. And some are not equal at all.

Now, this became actually more disturbing when I found this on the NRO- a right wing news source:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODk3ZWU2YzNkMDQ3MTI2OGQ3OGVhZWQ1NTEwZDgyY2Y=







Terrific Women
Ten courageous women of the world are recognized by the State Department.

By Myrna Blyth

On the day before International Women’s Day, I spent the afternoon at the State Department with a group of fabulous women. They were the winners of the new International Women of Courage Awards, created by three State Department women: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, and Andrea Bottner, the senior coordinator for the Office for International Women’s Affairs.

The awards are part of a brand-new program that asks American embassies around the world to nominate women who have shown exceptional courage and leadership advocating for women’s rights and advancement. Eighty women were nominated and ten were chosen. Nine women were in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the State Department to receive their awards. One of the ten couldn’t make it. A Latvian journalist named Ilze Jaunalksne, she had broken a big story about a vote-buying scandal that involved prominent national political leaders. She was harassed, and her work was disparaged. Then she made even bigger headlines when she took the government to court, successfully suing officials for illegally tapping her phone and then releasing the tapes. She couldn’t attend the ceremonies at the State Department, but she had a good excuse: She’s about to have a baby.

Each of these women had an amazing story to tell. Dr. Siti Musdah Mulia is small and pretty and was elegantly dressed in a sparkly blue outfit. She is a Muslim feminist from Indonesia, the first woman to earn a PhD in Islamic Thought from the State University of Jakarta. She has used her knowledge of the Koran to advocate for women’s rights. For instance, she helped draft a version of Indonesia’s Islamic code that included recommendations for banning polygamy and child marriage. Because of this, she has received death threats, but she continues to inform Indonesian women about what she believes are their rights.

Another awardee was Dr. Samia Al-Amoudi from Saudi Arabia, another remarkable woman with an inspiring personal story. An obstetrician and gynecologist, she diagnosed her own advanced breast cancer. Even though she was a well-known doctor—a former vice dean of a medical college in Jeddah—she had to struggle to get appropriate treatment for her disease. She was the first Saudi woman to publicly share her personal battle with breast cancer, since it is a taboo subject there. By breaking the silence, she has helped many Saudi women seek earlier and better treatment.

At the ceremony Secretary Rice said, “It is not possible to think about democracy without thinking about the empowerment of women. One of the nicest gifts that I've ever gotten was a t-shirt from the women of Kuwait, shortly after they were given the right to vote, and it said, ‘Half a Democracy is No Democracy at All.’” The future of the Middle East perhaps depends more on improving the status of women than on any other factor.

Two of the recipients of the award came from Afghanistan and two from Iraq. The Afghan women, Mary Akrami and Aziza Siddiqui, both run programs that help protect women from violence. Both have also received death threats. Ms. Akrami runs a shelter in Kabul while Ms. Siddiqui travels the countryside, encouraging girls to attend school.

The two Iraqi women seemed to reflect some of the differences in their own country. Dr. Sundus Abbas is a journalist and a director of the Women’s Leadership Institute. She was dressed in a sleek pants suit. Shatha Abdul Razzak Abbousi is a teacher specializing in both biology and Islamic studies. She was dressed very modestly, with a head scarf and a long coat-like dress. Both are involved in their country’s politics and in important reconciliation efforts.

Last week I spoke to a class at Harvard about women voters and the presidential election. At one point, a woman asked me how I could say there are so many opportunities for women in America when no woman had ever been president. I replied that that wasn’t the point. The fact is that America gives opportunities to many, many women, and not just the ones with political ambitions. Yesterday it was clear once again that part of what is so great about this country is that women here do not need exceptional courage to do a job or speak about an illness or help other women achieve. But it is inspiring to know that in other places there are amazing, courageous women. They deserve our attention and our support.



-----------------------------

But wait! The moralistic stringent right wing is the taliban!!!

Doesnt matter that their pundits are the one advocating for the world's most disadvantaged women. While the "progressives" are going apeshit about saying vagina in a country where woman can vote, get abortions, birth control, go to work, school, divorce, get healthcare, go to domestic violence shelters, report domestic violence etc. , the morally stringent taliban like conservative pundits are speaking on behalf of women who have none of these things.

Would someone please explain to me what has happened to "progressives" when it comes to women? 

Now despite all the rejoicing of those that want to make Bush look bad so much that they are willing to sacrifice all basic human rights of women in Afghanistan, it seems that this opinion that the war in afghanistan cannot be won is a little off-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1495000.ece

What gives?