'iraq" - Jezebel

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New Trends in Iraq "Not Really About Fashion, But Freedom"
It's Party Time
The Banner Yet Waves
Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
School Daze
Stock & Trade
Stamp Of Approval
A Thousand Words
The End Is Near
The Grass Is Greener

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MIXED
12/17/09

In reply to New Trends in Iraq "Not Really About Fashion, But Freedom"
Let's hope stabilization and development continue, and that women in Iraq can enjoy greater freedom of expression, through fashion choice or not, as time goes on. I just feel like we've fucked up so much for these people.

On a purely anecdotal note, I have a friend who is a refugee from Iraq. She wears hijab and is a pretty strict Muslim but does salon-type services for women here, like brazilian waxes, eyebrow threading, etc. She always says that just because she chooses to live a certain lifestyle and express that through modest style and dress, she doesn't think other women have to do that. I think it's awesome, and she always says that that is how she was raised - that everyone has freedom of choice and should be respected for it.
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BearDownCBears
12/17/09

In reply to New Trends in Iraq "Not Really About Fashion, But Freedom"
Hey I was wondering something the other day and was wondering if some of you military types (Ginmar, Adah) could clue me in either way. Hopefully this isn't too much of a digression.

Did the soldiers in Iraq ever try to organize sports for the local kids as part of a "hearts and minds" kind of thing, or is that too Disney? And would something like girls' soccer or field hockey or basketball ever take off? Do you think it would have any sort of positive ripple effect?
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curiousgeorgiana
12/17/09

@BearDownCBears: I don't know if there was an organized program, but several of my friends (Marines) that were stationed there talked about playing pick-up games all the time with kids in the streets. Basically they didn't go anywhere without a soccer ball. They said it really helped diffuse tension in some neighborhoods, especially since the kids were better players than they were.

I think Operation Give even started collecting soccer ball donations to send to Iraq.
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futuremouse
11/24/09

In reply to The Banner Yet Waves
Jesus but this sentence is ridiculous: Chairman of the Iraq Inquiry Sir John Chilcot will lead a committee of Privy Counsellors who will consider the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009, embracing the run-up to the conflict in Iraq, the military action and its aftermath.

Sir Chilcot and the Privy Counsellors will both consider AND embrace the period? Heavens above. What WILL they do next?
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mbprice
11/24/09

In reply to The Banner Yet Waves
I'd never heard the name "Intisar" before. I looked it up. It's an Arabic name meaning "triumphant." Cool :)
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ArtfulSlinger
11/24/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
I feel so bad for this woman and can completely understand her pain, and more than sympathize with her. The justice system can never really repair the damage these criminals have caused in their victims' lives, as well as their own families.

If there was any time better than now to take a deep dark look at what we are doing with our penal/judicial system, its now.
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Flackette Goes Retro
11/24/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
I realize she's just speaking out of pain, and I respect that (heaven knows that if I were in her shoes, I'd be saying a whole lot worse, and probably be plotting to kill the suspect myself), but I just wanted to point out that many local jails now do charge prisoners a daily fee - about $10 most places - for their food and lodging. Not that that at all helps the horrible situation this family is in - just being servicey.
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Edited by Flackette Goes Retro at 11/24/09 9:34 AM

FatterKitty
11/24/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
My sister and I basically grew up in my dad's lab-- we played with the lab animals and did "experiments" with water and petri dishes and beakers. Our pets were lab mice. No joke.

Best way to get kids interested in science (or anything, really): emphasize the gross stuff. Like this bug, that makes a protective covering for itself out of its own poo!!

[www.livescience.com]
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MIXED
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
I wish I were a Rhodes Scholar with a Rhodes Scholar boyfriend! Pshh overachievers!

//congrats to both of them, what an achievement!
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curiousgeorgiana
11/23/09

@MIXED: Yeah, seriously people. Leave some good stuff for the rest of us! Hoarders.

Awesome for them. Hooray!!!
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eibhinn
11/23/09

@MIXED: The only Rhodes scholar I've ever met had an adorable burnout hippy boyfriend who was more interested in camping than studying. She detested Oxford and didn't finish her degree.
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
11/23/09

@eibhinn: It's got to be bittersweet winning an amazing, prestigious award and getting an incredible opportunity... all tied to a guy who was a bigot, colonialist zealot who thought white Brits should rule the world (and especially diamond-rich South Africa – Rhodes was co-founder of DeBeers).
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Alohamaid
11/23/09

@curiousgeorgiana: um as someone who practically majored in dating Rhodes while at oxford I'd say you don't want most of them [/insecurity]
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curiousgeorgiana
11/23/09

@Alohamaid: I didn't mean the boyfriend LOL-- I meant the scholarship!!!

#tips
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Alohamaid
11/23/09

@curiousgeorgiana: whoops! Feminism fail

#tips
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curiousgeorgiana
11/23/09

@Alohamaid: LOL, no I wasn't specific ;o).
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shadesofmediocrity
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
"Washington D.C. is at the top of the list, with women making an average of $866 a week, only 7.8% less than men."

My first thought: "Yay, we're getting there!"

Second thought: "It's 2009, and I'm cheering that most-equal area is down 7.8 percent?"
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curiousgeorgiana
11/23/09

@shadesofmediocrity: In the Nation's Capital.
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sweet_communist
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
I am so pumped that our President takes science seriously. It's about damn time. Attending a science fair at the White House would have been the highlight of my school career!
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Penny
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
I can't imagine having to reconcile Justice and justice for one you've lost. I don't care how much someone wants to wax poetic about the law/system and how government guarantees human treatment of all its citizens (which it doesn't really anyhow), that will be of little solace to someone in Lockhart-Davis' position.
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curiousgeorgiana
11/23/09

@Penny: Yes. I once had this conversation with my dad. He said that if someone murdered me, he would want them to get the death penalty. I argued with him that he doesn't support the death penalty, doesn't believe the state should kill etc etc.

He just said: "There's a reason fathers of murdered children aren't allowed in sentencing hearings."
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curiousgeorgiana
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
Once again, screw you VMI.

They recruited me; heavily recruited me. And I made the mistake of visiting the school. They harassed me for 3 months with constant calls/ letters--even after I told them I had accepted elsewhere. It took my dad getting on the phone and in his best commanding officer voice, telling them to fuck off before they stopped.

I'm sure some women have a fine experience there-- the women I talked to did not recommend it.
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daradoodle
11/23/09

@curiousgeorgiana: A sister of a friend of mine went there and had a really awful time. Last I heard she was spending her sophomore year abroad at a military academy in France just to get away.
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curiousgeorgiana
11/23/09

@daradoodle: I dealt with my share of sexist attitudes in NROTC. But those individuals were exceptions to the general rule. Not to mention guys would get slammed pretty hard by superior officers if they caught wind of comments etc. or witnessed any harassment.

It seems to be a culture at VMI, and I'm shocked that women survive it. Good for your friend for getting a break!
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daradoodle
11/23/09

@curiousgeorgiana: Yeah, I read a bunch about the school for a class (we were focusing on military academies for a couple of weeks), and I have to say, I don't really understand why a woman would choose to go there, knowing what I found out. It seems as though the culture is almost a reaction (a very bitter, nasty one) to being forced to admit women, and its just scary.
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Edited by daradoodle at 11/23/09 6:19 PM daradoodle was starred daradoodle was unstarred

Her Grace
11/23/09

@curiousgeorgiana: Many women from my university, Mary Baldwin College, are and were in the military program hosted on our campus, the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership. VWIL is the only all-female cadet corps in the world, but we're a small school (around 900 students, with about 150 in VWIL at any time) and couldn't offer all of the officer training on campus. Upperclassmen would go down to VMI (about half an hour) and be part of their training; my friends who did so said it was horrible and sexist.
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Ailatan
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
"They caused, allowed and permitted condoms to be distributed by school personnel to the students, many of which were opened during the school lunch period and thrown on the floor"

I'm sorry this lady fell and all, but I have a sneaky suspicion that she's just annoyed at students having had some real sex education at school.
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Gavagirl
11/23/09

@Ailatan: When I read that a teacher had "slipped on a condom", I thought maybe it had gotten a little too real. Hooray for linguistic ambiguity and its many amusements!
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I, Zombie Normal
11/23/09

@Ailatan: That's what I first thought, and I hope I'm just a damnable cynic, but I honestly thought it was a ruse to ban sex ed and the condom handouts.
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limber
11/23/09

@Ailatan: Sounds a lot like it, eh? She'd have a better case if they were still doing the condoms-on-bananas bit, and she'd slipped on one of those...
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whats_in_a_name
11/23/09

@Ailatan: Comprehensive sex ed: it's all fun and games till somebody slips and pokes an eye out.
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TimFritz
11/23/09

@Ailatan: Alas! We see why sex ed in public schools isn't working. If it were, they would know that the condoms go on your penis and not on the floor!

I blame the system!
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Ailatan promoted this comment Edited by TimFritz at 11/23/09 6:41 PM TimFritz was starred TimFritz was unstarred

PipPipCheerio
11/23/09

@Ailatan: They're passing out condoms in schools??!! Everyone will be falling all over the place!!

Won't someone think of the children??!! [that these children won't be having because they're being given condoms in school]
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maggiethecat
11/23/09

@Ailatan: How the F do you not see garbage on the floor? How do you slip on a used condom? It's not like those things need a decoder pen- they're not made invisible. Maybe her arms were full of promise keeper pamphlets.
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tacotico
11/23/09

@Ailatan: The good news is that the school is handing out lubricated condoms for the ladies.
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quisbella
11/23/09

@Ailatan: I'm afraid of the consequences this could have on the sex education of NYC students. Could the BofE then argue that they can't hand out condoms because they don't want this lawsuit to happen again?
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Red-headed bookworm
11/24/09

@Gavagirl: Haha, that was my thought too. Who says grammar and language aren't fun?
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BytheSea
11/25/09

@Ailatan: Agree. A normal person would just be embarrassed she slipped. She wouldn't go to the media to try to disgrace the school for passing out condoms.
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BytheSea
11/25/09

@tacotico: And statistically 5-10% of the gentlemen.
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Elaken
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
How amazing to be with someone who is just as intelligent/driven/capable as you. Very cool for Longino.
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AndPreciousLittleofThat
11/23/09

In reply to Shaniya Davis' Aunt Speaks Out • Teacher Sues After Slipping On Condoms
Boy, that's far and away the most creative argument against condoms in schools I've ever heard.

Never mind kids having unprotected sex, because we have to worry about the real menace: SLIPPAGE.
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MalinaMango
11/23/09

@AndPreciousLittleofThat: Yeah, by her logic the school cafeterias should also ban bananas, butter, and Jell-O. Oh, and all liquids.
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I, Zombie Normal
11/23/09

@MalinaMango: I slipped on a pencil in school once, so let's get rid of those. They're practically weapons!
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Jack_Burton
11/23/09

@I, Zombie Normal: OMG! My seatbelt gave me a welt when I ran my car into that concrete pylon and it saved my li- ... oh never mind.
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