The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

Archives for November 2007

Saudis Punish Rape Victim

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Our dear friends the Saudis are beacons of friendship, tolerance and human rights. It is a wonder why they don’t have a permanent collection of Nobel Peace Prize winners.

“(CNN) — A court in Saudi Arabia increased the punishment for a gang-rape victim after her lawyer won an appeal of the sentence for the rapists, the lawyer told CNN.

The 19-year-old victim was sentenced last year to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male, a former friend from whom she was retrieving photographs. The seven rapists, who abducted the pair and raped both, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.

The victim’s attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, contested the rapists’ sentence, contending there is a fatwa, or edict under Islamic law, that considers such crimes Hiraba (sinful violent crime) and the punishment should be death.

“After a year, the preliminary court changed the punishment and made it two to nine years for the defendants,” al-Lahim said of the new decision handed down Wednesday. “However, we were shocked that they also changed the victim’s sentence to be six months in prison and 200 lashes.”

The judges more than doubled the punishment for the victim because of “her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media,” according to a source quoted by Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper.

Judge Saad al-Muhanna from the Qatif General Court also barred al-Lahim from defending his client and revoked his law license, al-Lahim said. The attorney has been ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Justice next month.

Al-Lahim said he is appealing the decision to bar him from representing the victim and has a meeting with Justice Minister Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al Al-Sheikh on Monday.”

Dancing With My Children

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Not unlike many parents I sometimes get caught in reverie about my children and wonder who they will grow up to be. I watch them as they sleep and try to remember when I could sleep like that. It is a slumber that is not disturbed by adult nightmares and worries. Their sleep reminds me a bit of their dancing, it is done without a care in the world.

Sometimes I try to remember what it was like to be so carefree. Sometimes I think that if I just work hard enough I can get back to that place where life is simple. There are moments when it feels close enough I can taste it. There are little moments in time when the impossible becomes possible. Dancing with the children is one of those moments.

The kids love to dance. They’re not old enough to be self-conscious about it. They’re still young enough not to feel silly so they just get up and do whatever they feel like doing. My son kind of flails around a bit like Mick Jaggerand my daughter just jumps.

More often than not she grabs my hand so that I can pick her up. I look down and see these twinkly eyes and a mop of curly hair and I melt. Click here. If you close your eyes you can see my princess and I waltzing around the room. Just hearing the music makes me smile. I can hear her giggle as we spin. I can hear her shriek with laughter. And sometimes, just sometimes you might even catch me with a little tear in my eye.

My son has all sorts of requests for songs to dance to. Sometimes it is for The Bright Sunny South or Above by The Blue Man Group. He has ridden his horse to the theme from The Magnificent Seven and Ghostriders in The Sky by Johnny Cash. He loves Mud on the Tires by Brad Paisley but the night almost never ends without a request to sing along to Mr. Brightside by The Killers.

I do the best I can to soak it all up and imprint these moments permanently upon my brain because I know the day will come when they won’t want to dance with their old man any longer. Although I can’t really say that I am all that worried about forgetting because all I have to do is put on a few of their favorites and the memories will come flooding back.

And for those who are interested here is short list of what I have listened to this morning/afternoon.

What I have Done
Linkin Park
Throw It Away
Toby Rand
Pictures of You
The Cure
I will Find You
Clannad
She’s a Butterfly
Martina McBride
Blue Monday
Orgy
Hotel California
The Eagles
More Than This
Roxy Music
Born To Hand Jive
Sha-Na-Na
You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch
Thurl Ravenscroft
Wild Sex
Oingo Boingo
Just Another Day
Oingo Boingo

Roosevelt Was Right

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“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

Teddy Roosevelt

“Don’t hit at all if you can help it; don’t hit a man if you can possibly avoid it; but if you do hit him, put him to sleep.”

Teddy Roosevelt

Cellphone Contracts- Cell Jail & More

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I have a love/hate relationship with my cellphone. It is an electronic leash that helps me dramatically improve my productivity while simultaneously acting as a cruel jailer that never really lets me stop working.

In theory if you have my number you have instant access to me. The time of day doesn’t matter, because the office travels with me. There are no “banker’s hours.” Oh sure you can and should make a policy about what time people can call you on it, but is only semi-effective. People still call and regardless of the time I have to make an effort not to respond. That ring generates a Pavlovian response in me.

This past week I was reminded of just how important my phone is to me and why I hate cellphone contracts. You see my Treo 700w died. It didn’t give me any warning. It didn’t tell me that it was tired of the relationship it just checked out and left me standing there with a confused look on my face.

I called my provider to ask for their help. This is the second time that I have had to replace it. The first one lasted about six months or so. This one made it about five. As you can imagine when I spoke with the provider whose name rhymes with horizon I was less than pleased. I wanted to know why the phone keeps dying. I don’t drop it. I don’t throw it. It hasn’t been folded, bent, stapled or otherwise mutilated. All I did was utilize the standard features of the phone.

So when I spoke with the provider whose name rhymes with horizon I inquired about switching to a different phone. They said sure Mr. Shack, we’d love to help you. Why don’t you consider using this fabulous Blackberry. That is all well and good except they want me to extend my contract or pay an outrageous amount of money for the fabulous Blackberry.

The provider whose name rhymes with horizon and their fellows in the industry are very quick to offer discounts to new customers. If you are a new customer they’re happy to wine and dine you. They can’t work hard enough to help you.

But once you are in the system you are stuck. You can’t just walk away from a contract. They make sure of that by sticking you with a large “early termination fee.” If you have a problem with the phone they’ll do what they can to help you, but that help is limited.

It reminds me a bit of the kid and the shiny new toy. He has a bunch of old toys that he enjoys playing with, but they’re not nearly as much fun as the bright new shiny one. That is the one that gets his attention. That is the one that he showers love upon.

You’ll forgive me for being bitter that a new customer could buy the Blackberry I am interested in for $100 less than it is being offered to me. You’ll understand my irritation at being stuck with a product that doesn’t have the life expectancy that it should. It is bad enough that we have to deal with Planned obsolescence, but surely we deserve better than this.

I think I am going to call the provider whose name rhymes with horizon and ask to speak with someone in their customer retention department and see if we can’t find a suitable compromise because I really am unhappy about being stuck in the cell jail.

I’ll let you know what happens.