Sudan: Officials seize a British teacher's approval of students 'Muhammad' teddy bear to play the culture card
This Week’s Top Scrooge - November 30, 2007
By ALEXANDER
I suppose there are worse atrocities in the world.
Sure, the Sudanese government's imprisonment of a kindly-looking teacher for the "hate crime" of allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad may not seem like a big deal to some.
After all, her sentence is only 15 days (five of which she has already served) and the maximum 6-month sentence and 40 lashes were not dished out by the Sudanese judge. I guess to prison veterans (and Muslim jailers), this is just a walk in the park. But for a teacher?
In finding that British primary school teacher, Gillian Gibbons, is guilty of insulting Islam by allowing her seven-year-old pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad, Sudanese officials have deliberately assaulted reason.
The Sudanese leaders have attempted to use Gibbons and Teddy 'Muhammad' Bear to call the rest of the non-Muslim world ignorant for not bowing to them. They are saying that all of us must walk on egg shells, careful to not accidently be offensive or we will be lashed, imprisoned, or killed...
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Perceived Insult To Islam Turns To Assault on Reason
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Teddy Muhammad Bear Teacher Says Sudanese Jail Not Bad
This from Reuters:
Jailed British teacher says Sudan treating her well
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM - A British teacher detained in Sudan for insulting Islam after her students called a teddy bear Mohammad has said she is being treated well, British diplomats said on Wednesday.
Outside the jail where Gillian Gibbons, 54, is being held, many ordinary Sudanese said they were ready to forgive her if she apologised.
Leaflets were distributed in Khartoum calling for protests, but many people had still not heard of the case and others called for calm. Lawyers say Gibbons could face 40 lashes, a fine or six months in jail if convicted.
"When we heard we wanted to demonstrate immediately but some said we should wait and see what the concerned authorities find out," said Abdallah, a science student.
Shopkeeper Sabir Abdel Karim said that if Gibbons had not intended to insult Islam, an apology to Muslims would be enough to end the problem.
"If the teacher apologised to the Sudanese people and to all Muslims because she insulted the Prophet Mohammad then this is enough to end the matter," he said.
"Any one can make a mistake and Muslims are forgivers. She will be forgiven and God will be the judge."
"If there was a misunderstanding as to what happened this can be resolved peacefully," said Omar, a 30-year-old unemployed man.
Most Sudanese papers have not given much coverage to the affair, which began with Gibbons' arrest on Sunday evening.
Seven-year-old Mohammad, a student in her class, told Reuters that he had named the teddy bear after himself and most in the class agreed with his choice.
Many Sudanese had not heard the full story and thought she had made a model of an animal and named it Mohammad after Islam's Prophet.
Rumours of riots, violent protests and cars burning near the school were rife but the streets were calm and there was no sign of demonstrations.
Not all were ready to forgive and forget, however.
"She is a teacher and should be teaching her pupils to be respectful and have morals but instead she is doing the opposite," said Mohamed Toum, a law student.
And a leaflet was being handed out in Khartoum calling on Muslims to protest after Friday prayers.
On Wednesday, three British embassy officials and a teaching colleague from the Unity High School where Gibbons worked were allowed to visit her for more than 90 minutes.
"I can confirm that we have met Ms. Gibbons and she said she is being treated well," said British consul Russell Phillips. "We remain in close contact with the Sudanese authorities on this case," he said, declining to give further details.
A pale-faced Gibbons walking with her head down and a thin blue blanket wrapped around her shoulders was taken from her prison cell to the meeting room.
Sudan's Justice Minister, Mohamed Ali al-Mardi, said preliminary charges against her were insulting religion, and final charges would be levelled once the investigation was over.
Friday, August 24, 2007
NFL suspends Michael Vick indefinitely
RICHMOND, Va. - The NFL indefinitely suspended Michael Vick without pay Friday just hours after he acknowledged in court papers that he did, indeed, bankroll gambling on dogfighting and helped kill some dogs not worthy of the pit. Vick, however, insisted he placed no bets of his own nor took any winnings.
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Blog at TheScroogeReport.com
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Pit Bulls Conspiracy Theory
Pit Bulls angry with Michael Vick plan attacks on humans
TheScroogeReport
Two Washington pit bulls committed a grizzly act on a woman Tuesday, mauling her and killing a neighbor's pet Jack Terrier. The pit bulls eventually surrendered to Pierce county officers after fighting and being pepper sprayed. As one of the dogs was led away it was heard muttering, "Put Vick in jail and throw away the key!"
Associated Press:
Pit Bulls Break Into Washington Home, Maul Woman
GIG HARBOR, Wash. (AP) - Two pit bulls entered a house through a pet door Tuesday and attacked a woman in her bed, mauling her badly, a Pierce County sheriff's spokesman said.
The woman was able to grab a gun and attempt to shoot the dogs, then broke away from the attack and locked herself in her car, calling 911 for help, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.
The woman, who was not immediately identified, was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, where she was listed in serious condition.
The pit bulls killed a Jack Russell terrier that entered the house during the attack, Troyer said. The Jack Russell belonged to a neighbor.
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Monster.com hacked; users exposed to 'file ransom'
Internet hacking on a grand scale.
Hackers Hold Monster.com Users' Files Hostage
Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly in the U.S., have been exposed to the risk of file ransom after the Web site of the world's largest online recruiter was hacked.
Personal details stored on Monster.com, a Web site that lists job seekers and job opportunities, were taken after a raid by hackers who posed as employers to gain access to the site.
Having stolen the information, hackers e-mailed the victims claiming to have infected their computers with a virus and threatening to delete files unless demands for payment were met.
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Monday, August 20, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Latest: This Week's Top Scrooges
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
NYPD: homegrown terrorists 'are not on the law enforcement radar'
I wonder if U.S. homegrown terrorists have a counter-intelligence team that coaches recruits how not to act like a terrorist? All they would have to do is look at studies like the recent NYPD report.
- Alexander, TheScroogeReport
NYPD Warns of Homegrown Terrorist Threat
NEW YORK (AP) - They preferred bookstores or hookah bars to mosques. They stopped listening to pop music and instead surfed Web sites promoting radical Islam. They threw away their baseball caps and grew beards.
New York Police Department intelligence analysts have concluded those were some of the telltale signs of homegrown terrorists in the making—a mounting threat as grave as that from established terrorist groups like al-Qaida.
An NYPD report released Wednesday warns of a "radicalization" process in which young men—otherwise unremarkable legal immigrants from the Middle East—grow disillusioned with life in America and adopt a philosophy that puts them on the path to jihad.
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Duct Tape Replaces Ski Mask For Robber's Disguise of Choice
In the "going-to-great-lengths" crime department...this just in!
AP:
ASHLAND, Ky. — Laughter might be unexpected in a liquor store where a robbery just occurred.
But that's how employees responded to the "Duct Tape Bandit" who hit Shamrock Liquors in Ashland and fled nearly empty handed.
A man who had his head wrapped in duct tape to conceal his identity walked into the store last Friday, Ashland police said.
Store manager Bill Steele had some duct tape of his own, but his was wrapped around a wooden club that sent the robber fleeing, according to a report by WSAZ-TV in Huntington, W.Va.
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Monday, August 13, 2007
One More WWE Wrestler Goes Down: Brian 'Crush' Adams Found Dead
Another WWE wrestler tragedy
FOXNews reports:
The Web site WWE.com announced Monday that wrestler Brian Adams — known as "Crush" — was found dead, less than two months after the murder-suicide of professional wrestler Chris Benoit and his family.
Tampa police told FOX News that Adams' wife found him unconscious in bed and called 911. He was pronounced dead in the home when medics could not revive him.
According to biographical listings at Wikipedia.org and IMDB.com, along with wrestlers "Ax" and "Smash," Adams was part of the face-painting, leather strap-wearing tag-team known as "Demolition."
Adams was arrested in 1994 on steroid possession and gun charges. He was later acquitted of the drug charges, the sites reported.
Adams was forced to retire from wrestling in 2003 after he injured his spine in a match.
Blog
Friday, August 10, 2007
Flowers lawsuit? Dial 1-800-ADULTER-Y
Denial takes the form of a lawsuit against 1-800-FLOWERS. Fess up man! You goofed...now get right with God! Not much sympathy here for a man blaming a florist company for the exposition of his affair.
- Alexander, TheScroogeReport.com
Texas Flower Delivery Order Leads to Million Dollar Suit, Messy Divorce
FOXNews.com
MISSOURI CITY, Texas — A Missouri City, Texas, man has filed a federal lawsuit against 1-800-FLOWERS, Inc. after they sent his wife a thank-you card for flowers he ordered for another woman.
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Friday, July 27, 2007
Note to Lindsay: 'denial' is not a river in Egypt
This Week’s Top Scrooge - July 27, 2007
By ALEXANDER
TheScroogeReport.com
Confession of sins doesn't come easy for some, even when the sins are staring you straight in the face.
Case in point, actress Lindsay Lohan, accused of drunken driving and cocaine possession after her second arrest in a month, has denied she was taking drugs. Not only has she denied taking drugs, she has denied she drove the car in which the now-famous car chase took place.
Just before Lindsay Lohan was arrested early Tuesday morning, she commandeered a car and took three men hostage -- this, according to the three men who were in the car with her. I viewed the testimony of the three men at TMZ.com and the dudes account of the evening seems credible.
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Thursday, April 26, 2007
This Week's Top Scrooge - April 6, 2007
By ALEXANDER
TheScroogeReport
I reckon because of its perverted creativity and the threat that this could probably happen to just about anyone, This Week's Top Scrooge pinning goes to the instigator of an online hoax in which a women's home became up for grabs.
The Scrooge is yet to be identified.
A fake ad on craigslist offered everything in Laurie Raye's house for free. By the time she realized what was going on, the house had been stripped of its light fixtures, hot water heater — even the kitchen sink.
Even the front door and a vinyl window were pilfered, Raye said in an AP story.
Although investigators are still looking for the cyber Scrooge or Scrooges, the dishoner has been given for the first week of April 2007.
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