Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (5296)	9/28/2005 11:00:16 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9838

Hughes raises female driving ban with Saudis Top Bush adviser also urges more political freedom for women Updated: 2:52 a.m. ET Sept. 28, 2005 JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes questioned Tuesday the Saudi ban on driving by women, telling a crowd of several hundred Saudi women, covered head to toe in black clothing, that it had negatively shaped the image of Saudi society in the United States. "We in America take our freedoms very seriously," Hughes said. "I believe women should be free and equal participants in society. I feel that as an American woman that my ability to drive is an important part of my freedom." Women in the audience applauded after she also mentioned that they should have a greater voice in the Saudi political system, including eventually receiving the right to vote. Hughes hastened to add that Saudi society must change at its own pace and according to its own traditions, but she went significantly further in her statement than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did on a visit three months ago. Rice pressed for greater political freedoms for women but dismissed the subject of driving as "just a line that I have not wanted to cross." Raising issues Asked about the contrast between her comments and Rice's, Hughes said her remarks were part of a U.S. policy of "slowly advancing ideas" with the Saudis. "My job is to raise issues in, I hope, a respectful way, to help other countries understand concerns Americans have," she said. Newly appointed to run public diplomacy efforts for the Bush administration, Hughes was on a week-long tour of the Middle East to improve the image of the United States, but the tables were turned Tuesday in meetings with Saudi students, journalists and officials. During a meeting with top Saudi editors, Hughes pointedly noted that the United States was concerned that inflammatory literature intolerant of other religions and traced to the Saudi government had been found in American mosques. Hughes pressed the government to help "find room to respect people of different faiths and different faith traditions." Hughes added that Americans were upset that Muslim clerics did not immediately condemn the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. She urged Saudis "to speak out and be very vocal" when "you have someone committing these acts in the name of your faith." Freedom House, which monitors civil and political rights around the world, reported this year that it had collected from more than a dozen mosques in the United States about 200 original documents that condemn democracy as anti-Islamic and assert that Muslims are religiously required to hate Christians and Jews. U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter said that he had raised the issue privately with Saudi officials but that Hughes was the first U.S. official to express concern about the literature in a public forum in the kingdom. Khaled Maeena, editor in chief of the daily Arab News, said it was "quite a big deal" that Hughes spoke about the pamphlets, which he said were the work of a "small band of intolerant, bigoted people who have hijacked a religion and are getting away with it." Saudi women appear divided on ban Many people who spoke with Hughes focused on Saudi Arabia's poor image in the United States, complaining especially about news media coverage that they said portrayed Saudi men as terrorists and Saudi women as abused and unhappy. Hughes raised the subject of driving in response to such a comment during the meeting with women at the private college of Dar al-Hekma. Hughes said later that the questions at the school "opened the door" for her to broach sensitive subjects in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. "It is important for them to understand that for many American women, driving is a symbol. We can't imagine not being able to drive ourselves to work," she told reporters traveling with her. Women interviewed at the college said they were pleased that Hughes had raised the issue, but they appeared divided on the ban itself. Fouzia Pasham, a gynecologist, defended the ban, saying women who drive in other countries have to keep "a good smiling face" as they are forced to shuttle around town picking up their children and running errands. But a mother of four, who would give her name only as Tulien, said she had secretly learned to drive in the desert and was frustrated by the ban, even though she could afford two drivers. "We are very happy and satisfied, but we would be happier and more satisfied if we could drive," she said.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (5296)	9/29/2005 2:09:20 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9838

No, you appear to believe the lies you've been fed. The top 50% of all tax filers paid over 90% of individual taxes. Its not the top 50% I'm worried about. Its the top ten percent who's not paying their share.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (5296)	9/29/2005 8:35:45 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9838

Either the fault of George Bush or US Imperialism</sarcasm> Four soldiers, teacher killed in Thai Muslim south 27 Sep 2005 10:19:23 GMT Source: Reuters alertnet.org BANGKOK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Four Thai soldiers and a teacher were killed by suspected militants in Thailand's restive Muslim south where nearly 900 people have been killed in 21 months of violence, police said on Tuesday. The soldiers, riding on two motorcycles, were shot dead by militants armed with pistols and AK-47 assault rifles near a school in Yala, one of three troubled provinces bordering Malaysia. "There was an ambush about 500 metres from the school. The militants sprayed bullets from the jungle and all four died at the scene," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Mustopa Mani told Reuters. In a separate incident, a teacher was shot dead in his car in the province of Pattani. Teachers are often targeted by insurgents as symbols of government authority. Separatist unrest has gripped the predominately Muslim region since January 2004 and analysts feared more blood-letting after Muslim youths brutally murdered two Thai marines last week. Security forces have arrested four people in connection with the murders of the Thai marines, who were held bound and blindfolded overnight by villagers suspecting they were members of a government death squad. The government denies any such groups operate in the region, an independent sultanate until formally annexed a century ago.