OVO

1040 NW Everett St. Portland, OR 97209

Bearing Service Company was founded in 1929. The Bearing Service Company building was built in 1945. Above the entryway there is a Deco style sign and round overhang. The round overhang is completed in it’s reflection in the front window. At the base of the column supporting the overhang there is a circle drawn in the sidewalk. The round overhang, column and circle form two wheels and an axle, a good match for an automotive business.

See Portland Memorials for thousands of memorials in downtown Portland, Oregon USA.

Music: Aeolian Piano Roll – “Phantom Patrol” (1903)

Trevor Blake: Architectural Detail of Occupy Portland. 11/11/11. Portland Oregon USA. Public Domain.

More public domain photographs of Occupy Portland by Trevor Blake here.

The USS Oregon was launched in 1893 and served until 1919. The battleship’s crew saw action in five wars. The Oregon was scrapped in 1956. The bow, mast and anchor chain of the Oregon are in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, near SW Pine and Naito. One mile north is the Albers Mill Building. The smokestacks of the Oregon were in a Liberty Ship memorial park where this parking lot is now. The Willamette River Greenway Trail runs next to the Building. Walk along it until you find a wall running into the Willamette River. On the other side of this wall are the remains of some Liberty Ships that had been made in Portland. This is what remains of the Liberty Ship memorial park.

Music: Aeolian Piano Roll – Phantom Patrol (1903)

Learn of thousands of other memorials in Portland Memorials by Trevor Blake.

Portland writer Trevor Blake’s book, Portland Memorials, is a compilation of historical markers to be found by walking through the downtown area. Sound simple? Consider that the author must at some points have practically crawled on his hands and knees to transcribe dates and names from the thousands of “plaques, buildings, statues, benches and fountains” that were grist for his investigations. He even discovered that a few memorials touching on Black history were likely thrown into the Willamette River. The Skanner News traded electronic letters with Blake to get his story on how, and why, Portland has chosen to remember its past.

The Skanner News: Trevor what made you want to put this book together?

Trevor Blake: I wrote Portland Memorials for three reasons. The first reason is an echo of one of the memorials found in the book. The Shemanski Fountain is located at the north end of the South Park Blocks. It was a gift to the city by Portland shopkeeper Joseph Shemanski (1869-1951) in 1926. Shemanski gave the fountain to the city “to express in small measure gratitude for what the city has done for me.” And that is exactly the reason I have written Portland Memorials. I moved to Portland in 1992 and the city has given me as many opportunities, experiences and challenges as anyone could ask for. The second reason is writing a book is a good way to learn a subject, and I wanted to learn more about the architecture and history of Portland. The third reason is it provided some good exercise for the legs and the brain.

TSN: How did you research it, how many memorials are contained in it, and how long did it take?

Blake: I researched Portland Memorials the old fashioned way: I used my feet and my eyes. Over a three year period I walked around every block in downtown Portland, usually two or three times, and whenever I found a memorial I wrote down what it said and where it was using a pencil and paper. No special training or equipment was needed. There are a few websites and books that might have helped but I decided to see for myself what was there, and in doing so I’ve documented many thousands of memorials that are found in no other resource. I thought it would be a fine project for a Summer and include a few hundred items. It is a fine project, but it took three years and includes thousands of names. The best way to find a particular memorial is to look in the index, then find that page, then go to that memorial.

TSN: Can you talk a little bit about the Portland memorials that touch on the African American experience here?

BLAKE: I’m glad you asked this question. One of the most lively memorials downtown is for the Golden West Hotel at 707 NW Everett. This hotel was owned and frequented by African Americans from the early 1900s onward. Of all the memorials I found, this is the only one that includes photographs, text and a recording – the blind can enjoy and learn from this memorial, making it accessible to even more Portland citizens. The Walk of the Heroines on the campus of Portland State University includes the name of nearly thirty Black women civil rights pioneers. Strangely enough, there are three civil war cannons in downtown Portland. Two are in Lownsdale Square and were taken from Fort Sumter, the third was melted down and made into the church bell of First Presbyterian Church. There are some sidewalk plaques in the Old Town area that honor how the Chinese community has interacted with other communities, and one of them (on NW Flanders between 3 and 4) talks about how the Chinese and African American community mingled at the Royal Palm Hotel. There used to be a memorial park downtown dedicated to the Liberty Ships built by many African American workers in Portland during World War Two, but when that property was converted to condominiums most of what was in the park was thrown into the Willamette River.

TSN: What do you want to come from this book?

BLAKE: I want people to read about a memorial and go see it for themselves.  Not to read about it and forget it, not look it up online, but to go see it for themselves. It’s a reminder that each of us will just be a memory some day and that we’d best make hay while the sun shines.

TSN: What’s the most important thing about this town that you hope people take away from reading Portland Memorials?

BLAKE: Portland has preserved much of its history, and that can’t be said about many cities. Sometimes the preservation was by design of the city leaders, but often it was the efforts of individuals. In the 1950s many older buildings were torn down for being old fashioned.  The decorative iron work on the sides of some of these buildings was, shall we say, ‘privately preserved’ by individuals who couldn’t stand to see the art destroyed. Decades later, when Portland again appreciated its history, these works were returned to the city and can be seen in the Saturday Market area. I hope Portland Memorials is read for years to come by those who care about our city’s history.

TSN: Is there a website or other place people can access your book, or any other of your writings?

BLAKE: My book can be purchased in print or for Kindle at this address http://ovo127.com/ovo/ , where there is also a free sample chapter to download.

Originally published by The Skanner News on 19 December 2011.  Many thanks to Lisa and The Skanner.

Trevor Blake: Architecture. Portland Oregon USA. October 2011. Public Domain.

Trevor Blake: Architecture. Portland Oregon USA. October 2011. Public Domain.

Trevor Blake: Architecture.  Portland Oregon USA.  October 2011.  Public Domain.

Everything has already been said about photography. We have it here in 1911 but even now we can see how it may have been a big mistake.

The Byzantine Iconoclasts were no mere smashers of idols – their arguments ran deep, subtle & profound. They claimed that the Image colonizes the Imagination – other people’s magic overcomes your own personal magic & imprints itself on your soul. Only the Imagination free of such (mis)representation can truly be called autonomous & capable of poiesis, the creative act. To depict the sacred (& all things are potentially sacred) is to degrade it & thus to blaspheme. Only the Eye of the Heart can actually see.

Many Sufis would agree with these sentiments, as would many Jewish & Protestant mystics. The more accurate & scientific the representation the more it lies & blasphemes. “Abstract” art is more moral than any form of realism. Music & architecture, which are simply themselves (ideally), are considered permissible, although Islam suspects even music of threatening the soul’s integrity. But painting & sculpture & especially photography must surely be damned. Looking itself is a compromised or even guilty pleasure, lacking the intimacy of touch or smell or even hearing – too akin to “pure reason” – to cruel.

Against these arguments however we might assert the possibility of Hermetic Imagery – which (as Giordano Bruno or Athanasius Kircher would say) can allow us to free ourselves from the Image through the Image.

Certain symbols, Emblems, hieroglyphs or works of art can liberate the Imagination rather than “enchain” it. These images stimulate your own creativity rather than stifle or suffocate it under their beauty or shock-value or subliminal potency etc.

In the Renaissance this theory of art was called “Egyptian,” thanks to a fortuitous misunderstanding of the ancient hieroglyphs (ie that they were “magic”). Cagliostro was pushing the same notion in the late 19th Century. I believe we need such a theory in order to redeem our various arts – to save them from merely forming new chains, like advertising or propaganda.

Does this argument rescue photography from its own special hell? Maybe not. But maybe there’s something to be said for a touch of damnation. Maybe photography is a vice, like pornography, but then perhaps it could be a magical vice.

If we must have photography in 1911 let it be slow, clumsy, alchemical, rare – somehow still innocent of theory – not so much a spectral doubling but rather Magic Lanterns, a kind of stained glass, primitive & luminous, posed & formal, static, sepia-toned, nostalgic & slightly comical.

Portland Memorials by Trevor Blake
144 pages, 8.5 x 11, $15.00
Thousands of memorials in downtown Portland, Oregon USA.
[Free Sample] [Print] [Kindle] [Front Cover 2550 x 3300 PNG]

Between 2009 and 2011 I walked the length and breadth of downtown Portland. When I found a memorial, I transcribed what it said and where it was. This book includes all the memorials in downtown Portland. I have entered this book into the public domain for the same reason Joseph Shemanski gave Portland the Shemanski Fountain: “to express in small measure gratitude for what the city has done for me.”

Video:
Trevor Blake: Bearing Service Co.
Trevor Blake: The Liberty Ships.

Press:
Trevor Blake at the Curiosity Club 7 February 2012.
Cornelius Rex: Twitter (26 December 2011).
Lost Oregon: Twitter (26 December 2011).
Oregon News Network: Twitter (26 December 2011).
Lisa Loving: Portland Memorials Lists City Histories Depicted in Park Benches, Fountains, and More (The Skanner, Volume XXXIII No. 60.  19 December 2011).
Klint Finley: Twitter (19 December 2011).
Ivan Stang: Portland Memorials (ScrubGenius, 19 December 2011).

Stupeflix is an online video editing application. They recently used some of my public domain photographs to make a demonstration video for their product. They asked permission first, did a fine job, and I approve. Thanks Stupeflix and good luck!

Benchmarks for the next two issues of OVO have been accomplished this week.

Primary research for OVO 19 PORTLAND has been completed. This is a book-length record of every memorial in downtown Portland Oregon. As of this week, after three years, I will have walked every street and made note of every address and location. I will have a manuscript in hand by October 2011.

The material for OVO 20 has been compiled. This will be a human-readable anthology of thirty years of my writing and art, as differentiated from the rat’s nest of ovo127.com. OVO 20 will be published simultaneously with OVO 19 PORTLAND.

via youtube.

Mr. Condell says (0:22 – 0:53): “People keep framing this as a religious freedom issue.  But there’s a difference between practicing your religion, which everyone has a right to do, and rubbing your religion in people’s faces as a triumphalist political statement, which is what’s happening here.  I’d be interested to know just how bad an insult has to be before it’s no longer protected by the First Amendment.  After all, the Second Amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms.  But in practice you need a permit to walk around packing hardware, and not everyone can get one despite the Second Amendment.”

I enjoy Mr. Condell‘s videos very much and have posted quite a few at ovo127.com.  I have not always agreed with everything he says or how he says it, but the agreement was general enough to post the videos without comment.  This video is an exception.  Here Mr. Condell confuses what is right (moral, respectful, virtuous) with rights (legal status).  And Mr. Condell appears to be suggesting that insults, if they are bad enough, do not deserve First Amendment protection.  I disagree on both counts.  What is legal and what is illegal are not necessarily what is right or what is wrong.  And the most vile of insults are deserving of First Amendment protection.  Otherwise, enjoy the show.

Pi is the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is also the symbol for the ratio between the circumference of a circle and the diameter of a circle. Diameter is the distance from one side of a circle to the other side of a circle. Circumference is the distance around the outside of a circle. If you multiply the diameter of a circle by the square of pi, you get the circumference. And if you divide the circumference of a circle by the square of pi, you get the diameter. This formula is called Archimedes’ Constant, named after Archimedes (who lived from circa 287 BCE to 212 BCE). Archimedes’ Constant is a simple equation, but there is a catch; pi is not a finite number such as 23 or 127. The first sixty four digits of pi are 3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 592… and it just keeps going from there. So far, no one has demonstrated that there is a limit to how large a number pi is or that there is a pattern to the numbers in pi. Pi may be infinite.

You can ‘see infinity’ any time you want by measuring a circle’s diameter and then its circumference. Get a round plate and some string (the plate must be round and the string should not stretch when pulled). Lay the string across the plate from one side to the other, so that the string crosses over the middle of the plate. Mark the string at the point where it is the same diameter of the plate. Now take that length of string, multiply it by three, and wrap it around the outside of the plate. Three times the diameter will be pretty close to the circumference, but not exactly. You have just used simple tools to explore the relationship between diameter and circumference. Try it with any circle of any size; it always works. Maybe you don’t need to measure pi to sixty four (or a billion) digits, but you should now feel confident in stating that pi is not a finite, single-digit number. You should feel confident saying that because common sense, the evidence of your senses, and as many tests as you want to perform will confirm it every time. It works whether you measure in inches, centimeters, or even if you make up your own ‘plate units.’

Oddly enough, there are some people in the world who do not believe pi is 3.14159 26535… (and so on). They believe that pi equals three. Who believes that? Christians believe pi equals three. The Christians use a book named the Bible as the foundation for their beliefs, and the Bible says pi equals three. Not all Christians have the same interpretation of the Bible, and some of them disagree quite strongly about how it should be interpreted. But all of them, every one, use the Bible.

Long ago, the Christian Bible says, a man named King Solomon built a temple. He hired a man named Hiram to work on the temple. Hiram made all sorts of additions to the temple, including a sculpture described as a ‘molten sea.’ The molten sea was apparently some sort of large, round container of liquid. It was measured in cubits, which is believed to be the distance between the elbow and the middle finger of an adult male. The construction work of King Solomon and the work Hiram did for King Solomon are described twice in the Bible. The first time in a section of the Bible called 1 Kings (written about 586 BCE) and the second time in a section called 2 Chronicles (written about 450 – 400 BCE). Both times the Bible uses the same words to describe the molten sea. Here’s what the Christian Bible has to say about pi…

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 1 Kings 7:23

Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 2 Chronicles 4:2

The Bible says that a circle ten cubits in diameter measured thirty cubits in circumference. The Bible does not say that the molten sea was close to a circle, but that it was a circle. It does not say that it was close to ten cubits from brim to brim, or that it was close to thirty cubits round about, but that it was ten cubits from brim to brim and it was thirty cubits round about. The Bible gives these measurements once and then gives them again, using the same measurements both times. There is no way to say the Bible meant something other than pi equals three. Christians have been presented with these measurements for thousands of years, and Christians have known about Archimedes’ Constant for thousands of years. Even if you give Christians a few hundred years between when Kings and Chronicles were written and the discovery of Archimedes’ Constant, the Christians have known for thousands of years that the measurements of the molten sea are mistaken. Knowing that pi does not equal three doesn’t require modern complex mathematics or equipment: a piece of string will do. At any point over the past two thousand years, Christians could have decided to follow common sense, the evidence of their senses, and simple tests to change the Bible to make it match real life. But they never have. Why don’t the Christians change the Bible?

Because Christians believe that the Bible is not wrong. Christians believe the Bible is right. Not just close to right, or only right sometimes, but right all the time and in every way. Right in a way that no human can be right, right in a supernatural, divine way. Christians believe that God inspired the people who wrote the Bible; since God cannot make mistakes and since God knows everything, everything in the Bible is correct. The Bible is correct about the past, the present and the future: it is eternally true. How do they know the Bible is inspired by God and eternally true? Because the Bible tells them so! Read for yourself where the Bible tells Christians that it is a book authored by God and eternally true: Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel.15:29; Ezekiel 24:14; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Exodus 12:14, 17, 24; Leviticus 23:14,21,31; Psalms 119:151-2, 160; John 1:1,14, 8:58, 10:30-31, 10:38-39, 16:30, 20:28, 21:17; Colossians 2:2-3, 2:8-9; Acts 5:29; Titus 2:13; Philippians 2:6; Hebrews 1:8; Revelations 1:17, 22:13. And there are other verses, many others, that say the same.

Some Christians believe that one of the characters in the Bible, Jesus Christ, made changes to one part (the Old Testament, where Kings and Chronicles are found) by his appearance in another part (the New Testament). But here’s what Jesus himself had to say about that…

Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:18-19

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Luke 16:17

Jesus said that every part of the Old Testament was just as true and eternal as the New Testament. So there you have it. The Bible says, and Jesus confirms, that pi equals three. It doesn’t matter if you measured something different with your plate and string; pi equals three. What a silly, stubborn thing for Christians to keep in their Bible when common sense, the evidence of our senses, and simple tests will demonstrate that it is not true. Why do Christians keep this easily-corrected falsehood in the Bible? Would it really change the ethics, morals and values of the Bible to make this small change? Why don’t they come clean in this least important of ways? Because for a Christian to admit that there is even one error in the Bible would mean that the Bible is not the eternally true work of God. And since all Christians, every one, use the Bible, it would mean that their religion is based on falsehoods.

The little Christian mistakes such as pi equals three don’t matter much in the day-to-day world; Christianity would not collapse if that one small change was made. But if that one small change was made, then it would be an admission that the Bible is not the eternally true work of God. And that would lead to the collapse of Christianity. That is why Christians believe pi equals three. Because to admit otherwise would be to admit much, much more. It would be to admit that perhaps the ethics, morals and values of the Bible are not what they’re cracked up to be. It would be to admit that it’s not right to oppress women (Colossians 3:18), to own slaves (Hosea 3:2), to kill people just because they follow a different religion (Deuteronomy 6:15, 13:6-10), to kill homosexuals (Romans 1:31-32), to kill children (Exodus 21:15, 17), to kill (Mark 7:9-13) and kill (Romans 5:9) and kill (Hebrews 10:28-29). Christianity has to preserve its little mistakes, such as pi equals three, so that it can perpetuate its bigger, uglier “mistakes.”

(from OVO 16 ANTICHRIST January 2006)

Jihad Watch: Nine Years Later, Church at Ground Zero Still Not Rebuilt, But Mad Rush to Build Islamic Supremacist Mega-Mosque

The rebuilding project is mired in bureaucracy, with New York City officials being uncooperative and throwing up roadblock after roadblock. The contrast is telling with the mad rush on the part of New York City officials to build the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero, sweeping aside calls to landmark the Burlington Coat Factory building, into which crashed the landing gear from one of the 9/11 planes.

Clifford D. May: Dear Mayor Bloomberg

After the 9/11 attacks, your predecessor Rudy Giuliani turned down a $10 million check from a Saudi prince who had said that America shares blame for the atrocity. Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the Islamic center project, has said that U.S. policies “were an accessory to the crime that happened.” How is that different?

Time: Afghan Women Fear Their Fate Amid Taliban Negotiations

“They are the people that did this to me,” she says, touching her damaged face. “How can we reconcile with them?”

Yahoo! News: Brazil Offers Haven to Iran Woman in Adultery Case

“If she is causing problems there, we will welcome her here,” Silva added.

Kenan Malik – How to Become a Real Muslim

A media reliant on scandal has colluded with self-promoting but marginal Muslim clerics to create a cycle of self-reinforcing myths around the Mohammed cartoons.

All articles continue at links. Part of a series that never ends… [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and etc.

Supporters of the World Trade Center Mosque are correct in saying they have a right to build this place of worship.  It is not up to the State to prevent them from doing so.  Construction of this building should go through the same review, safety and historic process as any other building.  If it passes those tests, and if the money is there, the State should not prevent it.  But I would prefer it not be funded, not be built, not be patronized.  I’d prefer no more houses of worship be built anywhere, but not through legal roadblocks.

While some feminists in the West spend time loving themselves in the mirror, shaming the media and advocating cheerleading be considered a sport, their ‘sisters’ in Muslim countries are being mutilated and killed.  Western feminists might also advocate against female genital mutilation, but through a veil. “Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a horrendous, excruciating, and life-threatening practice forced upon women and girls around the world, including countries such as Canada and the United States. [...] FGM is a practice that takes place in parts of Africa, some Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and in certain communities within North America and Europe. The procedure is customary in several cultures, and is perpetuated by a mixture of cultural, social, and religious beliefs.” When described through a veil, it sounds like FGM is part of a multicultural rainbow, practiced a little bit here and there by all sorts of folks.  But if you lift your gaze from Aphrodite’s hand-mirror, you will see that it is a Muslim practice.  Are you a Western feminist who wants to do something for women?  Follow the example of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Look at me, advocating a legal right to build a mosque where debris from a 9/11 plane crashed and the immigration of Muslims to the USA.  I must be one of those Islamophobes you read so much about.

via youtube.

Some additional information on the ground zero mosque not discussed in Mr. Condell’s video:

• United Flight 175 about to strike the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
• United Flight 175, having struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center, with its landing gear and other debris exploding out the other side.
• Trajectory of the debris of United Flight 175, including its landing gear, which severely damaged where it crashed.
• Landing gear of United Flight 175 after it crashed on Park Place.
• Location of the new mosque? 51 Park Place.
• Date scheduled for opening the new mosque at 51 Park Place?  September 11th.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built on an ancient temple of Aphrodite.  The Dome of the Rock is built on an ancient Jewish temple.  And having struck the USA, Islam is building a temple in the remains.  Call it Cordoba House, call it Park51, call it respect for the diversity of expression and ideas between all people, call it promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion through arts and culture, but if you want to call it what it is, call it rubbing it in.  Call it being a sore winner.  Call it pissing on a mass grave.  Call it planting a flag.  Call it colonization.  Call it an insult.

Trevor Blake: Architecture. Digital image.  Portland Oregon USA. 23 July 2010.

Robert Spencer: A Landmarks Commission Hearing, and Much More

Perhaps predictably, the Landmarks Commission hearing today to consider landmark status for 45 Park Place, the proposed site of the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque overlooking Ground Zero, was about much more than just whether the building at 45 Park Place merited landmark status or not. It quickly became a public forum on Islam, Muslims in America, and the appropriateness of a huge mosque at Ground Zero. [...] I spoke. I started by saying that I shared the view that some others had already enunciated, that this was supposed to be a hearing on the landmark status of 45 Park Place, not about what good citizens Muslims were and how much New York needed an Islamic “interfaith” center. But since that discussion had not been stopped and was thus apparently deemed relevant, it was also relevant that the Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, leader of the mega-mosque project, was pro-Sharia — a system of law that mandated discrimination against women and non-Muslims, and extinguished the freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. It was also relevant, I said, that he had been dishonest about his funding sources, saying in English that the mosque would be funded by American Muslims, and saying in Arabic that funding would come from Muslim nations. It was further relevant that he had declined to denounce Hamas as a terrorist organization, and that he had helped fund the jihad flotilla that was trying to take arms into Israel. I closed by pointing out that Riddle had said that the building had no unique historical value, but that it did, because it was the only building into which part of a 9/11 plane had crashed, and as such should be a war memorial. A Communist (really! At the Staten Island mosque hearing he actually shouted, “Workers of the world, unite!”) started shouting that I was a bigot, to which I responded that it was not bigotry to point out dishonesty and subversion, and that the Commission should consider carefully whether or not it was being lied to by the mosque proponents.

CNN: Burqa Ban Passes French Lower House Overwhelmingly

France’s lower house of parliament Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a ban on any veils that cover the face – including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women. The vote was 335 to 1. The measure must still go to the French Senate before it becomes law. The Senate is expected to vote on it in the week of September 20.

Abigail Pesta: An American Honor Killing

Around the sprawling, sunbaked campus of Dysart High School in El Mirage, Arizona, not many people knew about the double life of a pretty, dark-haired girl named Noor Almaleki. At school, she was known as a fun-loving student who made friends easily. She played tennis in a T-shirt emblazoned with the school mascot — a baby demon in a diaper. She liked to watch Heroes and eat at Chipotle. Sometimes she talked in a goofy Keanu Reeves voice. She wore dark jeans, jeweled sandals, and flowy tops from Forever 21. She texted constantly and called her friends “dude.” In other words, she was an American girl much like any other.

But at home, Noor inhabited a darker world. She lived a life of subservience, often left to care for her six younger siblings. Noor’s father, 49-year-old Faleh Almaleki, was strict and domineering, deeming it inappropriate for her to socialize with guys, wear jeans, or post snapshots of herself on MySpace. Her responsibility was to follow orders, or to risk a beating. From her father’s perspective, the only time Noor’s life would ever change would be when she married a man he selected for her — back in his homeland of Iraq. Noor, however, had a different vision for herself. Having lived in the U.S. for 16 years, she held dreams of becoming a teacher, of marrying a man she loved, and, most importantly, of making her own choices.

On a cloudless, breezy afternoon in late October 2009, her father set out to end those dreams. As Noor walked across a suburban parking lot to a Mexican restaurant with a friend – a 43-year-old woman named Amal Khalaf – Faleh Almaleki gunned the engine of his Jeep Grand Cherokee and bore down on his 20-year-old daughter and her companion. The women took off running but were no match for the SUV, already traveling close to 30 miles per hour. Suddenly Amal turned, held up her hands in a futile attempt to stop the Jeep, and froze. Moments later, the vehicle struck the women, tossing them into the air. Amal hit the pavement; Noor landed on a raised median, in a patch of pebbly landscaping. Faleh wasn’t done, though. Swerving onto the median, he ran over his daughter as she lay bleeding, fracturing her face and spine. Then, he reversed and sped away.

Passersby heard the roar of the engine, screams, the impact of the bodies as they hit the Jeep’s grill. They saw the women lying on the ground, their sandals scattered across the lot. A witness called 911, and emergency vehicles converged. Amal’s condition was stable; Noor was comatose. Local police characterized the incident as an attempted “honor killing” — the murder of a woman for behaving in a way that “shames” her family. It’s a practice with deep, tenacious roots in the tribal traditions of the Middle East and Asia. (The United Nations estimates that 5,000 women die annually from such crimes.) Women are stoned, stabbed, and, in the recent case of a teenage girl in Turkey, tied up and buried alive. But honor killings in America are a chilling new trend. In Texas, teen sisters Amina and Sarah Said were shot dead in 2008, allegedly by their father, because they had boyfriends. That same year in Georgia, 25-year-old Sandeela Kanwal was allegedly strangled by her father for wanting to leave an arranged marriage. Last year in New York, Aasiya Hassan, 37, was murdered in perhaps the most gruesome way imaginable: She was beheaded, allegedly by her husband, for reportedly seeking a divorce. And this past spring, 19-year-old Tawana Thompson’s husband gunned her down in Illinois, reportedly following arguments about her American-style clothing.

Amazingly, honor killings in the U.S. have been largely ignored by the national media. That’s because these incidents are typically dismissed as “domestic” in nature — a class of crime that rarely makes the headlines. Since the murderer is a member of the woman’s family, there’s no extended investigation to capture the public’s attention. Also, the family of the perpetrator rarely advocates for the victim, due to either fear or a belief that the woman got what she deserved. “From the family’s point of view, if the goal is to end rumors about their female relative, the last thing they want is to have the press talk about the case,” says Rana Husseini, a human-rights activist and author of Murder in the Name of Honor. Still, the lack of media coverage or public outcry cannot erase the evidence: Honor killings have washed up on our shores.

Amie Ferris-Rotman: Russia’s Muslim South Triples Sharia Bride Price

Against the backdrop of a bubbling Islamist insurgency, the revival of Islam in the North Caucasus following the break-up of the Soviet Union almost 20 years ago has brought sharia law to the region, revered by both rebels and ordinary citizens alike. The issue of the ‘kalym’, a price paid by a groom to the family of the woman he chooses to marry, is the latest example of a broader trend that has troubled the Kremlin. [...] Polygamy, illegal under Russian law, is encouraged by local authorities in the region. Last month rights workers blamed police for paintball attacks on Chechen women for not wearing headscarves, and Islamist fighters in Ingushetia have gunned down kiosk workers for selling vodka.

Saeed Kamali Dehghan: Campaign for Iranian Woman Facing Death by Stoning

A 43-year-old Iranian woman is facing death by stoning unless an international campaign launched by her children forces the authorities to quash what her lawyer calls a bogus conviction. In a case that highlights the growing use of the death penalty in a country that has already executed more than 100 people this year, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of conducting an “illicit relationship outside marriage.” Sakineh already endured a sentence of 99 lashes, but her case was re-opened when a court in Tabriz suspected her of murdering her husband. She was acquitted, but the adultery charge was reviewed and a death penalty handed down on the basis of “judge’s knowledge” – a loophole that allows for subjective judicial rulings where no conclusive evidence is present. Speaking to the Guardian, her son Sajad, 22, and daughter Farideh, 17, say their mother has been unjustly accused and already punished for something she did not do. “She’s innocent, she’s been there for five years for doing nothing”, Sajad said. He described the imminent execution as barbaric. “Imagining her, bound inside a deep hole in the ground, stoned to death, has been a nightmare for me and my sister for all these years.” Under Iranian sharia law, the sentenced individual is buried up to the neck (or to the waist in the case of men), and those attending the public execution are called upon to throw stones. If the convicted person manages to free themselves from the hole, the death sentence is commuted.

James Gordon Meek and Katie Nelson: Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki Puts ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed’ Cartoonist Molly Norris on Execution Hitlist

A charismatic terror leader linked to the botched Times Square car bomb has placed the Seattle cartoonist who launched “Everybody Draw Muhammed Day” on an execution hit list. Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki – the radical who has also been cited as inspiring the Fort Hood, Tex., massacre and the plot by two New Jersey men to kill U.S. soldiers – singled out artist Molly Norris as a “prime target,” saying her “proper abode is hellfire.” FBI officials have notified Norris and warned her they consider it a “very serious threat.” In an English-language Al Qaeda magazine that calls itself “Inspire,” Awlaki damns Norris and eight others for “blasphemous caricatures” of the Prophet Muhammed. The other cartoonists, authors and journalists in Awlaki’s cross hairs are Swedish, Dutch and British citizens.

Dutch News: Van Gogh Killer Has No Regrets

Six years after murdering film maker Theo van Gogh, his killer Mohammed Bouyeri has no regrets about his action, the AD reports on Friday. The paper has got hold of a letter written by Bouyeri to a Muslim group which turned up in Belgium. In the letter Bouyeri writes that he has ‘no regrets’ about the choices he has made and the road he has traveled, the paper says. ‘Not one second in all these years.’

Persian2English: 26 Year Old Woman Raped and Murdered by Basij Members for “Bad Hijab”

Elnaz Babazadeh, a 26 year old woman was raped and murdered by Basij forces in the city of Tabriz (northwestern Iran) last week. According to the reports, Basij forces stopped Babazadeh in her car for not following the Iranian regime’s dress code. Elnaz resisted and ignored orders given by the Basij forces. Then the Basij forces who had initially stopped her jumped into her car and threatened her with a gun. Two other Basij members joined in and all together they beat and raped her. They murdered Babazadeh and dumped her body close to Emamiyeh cemetery. After local investigation was conducted by HRANA members in Tabriz, it was confirmed at Babazadeh’s funeral that the person who killed her was the son of a high-ranking Revolutionary Guards member.

All articles continue at links. Part of a series that never ends… [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and etc.  It is not the proper role of the State to moderate clothing, but it might be the proper role of the State to make crime and violence more difficult.  A legal ban on the burqa in all circumstances is inappropriate, but a legal compulsion to reveal oneself in some circumstances (banks, airports, during arrests, getting a photo license) might be appropriate.  Hospitals (State and private) should have policies mandating hygienic behavior as a condition for continued employment no matter the religion of the employee.  If washing one’s hands includes revealing one’s hands and is thus against Islam, so much the worse for any would-be Muslim health care worker.  Private businesses are best left to private policies regarding required or forbidden clothing. And having said all that, it is better of courts in France to fine women who wear the burqa than it is for courts in Iran to rape and murder women who no not wear the burqa. These legal and cultural systems are not only different from one another, but one is better than the other. How can I tell? One rapes and murders women who no not wear the burqa, and one does not. The one that doesn’t is better. One culture threatens cartoonists and murders film makers, and one does not. The one that doesn’t is better. One culture has neighborhood stonings of half-buried women as a trial by survival, and one doesn’t.  The one that doesn’t is better.  When individuals from the culture that is worse identify themselves plainly, such as with the burqa, the State of the culture that is better can be tempted to use that easy identifier as a means to preserve itself. But liberty is not easy. Do not ban the burqa. Do not ban Islam.  Existing laws in the West protect freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and protection from violence and intimidation.  Islam is against these laws, but no new anti-Islam laws are needed to keep it at bay.

The television program LOST (first broadcast on the United States channel ABC between 2004-2010) includes a geodesic dome.  I do not intend to say much here about the show other than I have enjoyed it tremendously.  The sixth and final season of LOST begins in February 2010.  This essay will discuss the geodesic domes appearing in LOST.

Article continues.

Trevor Blake: Snow. Portland, Oregon USA. 29 December 2009.

Yahoo News: Taliban blow up Pakistan girls school
Islamist militants opposed to co-education and subscribers to sharia law have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in northwest Pakistan in recent years.

The Nation: Woman sold in public auction in Pakistan – for $3,200
A 20-year-old girl was auctioned at village Badani Bhutto of Taluka Kashmore in consideration of Rs2,70,000 on Saturday. Azizan, daughter of late Allah Bux Bhutto, was divorced on the allegation of Karo-kari [roughly, adultery] some time back. She is stated to be mother of two children and was residing with her brother who held the open auction for her ‘sale’ at village Badani Bhutto.

BBC: Pakistan court orders ears and noses to be cut off
A Pakistani court has ordered that two men have their ears and noses cut off, as punishment for doing the same to a woman who refused to marry one of them.

Mail Online: Muslim police chef defeated in ‘bacon roll’ tribunal faces £75,000 legal bill
Mr Khoja, 62, lost his claim in May after a police employee told an employment tribunal how she saw Mr Khoja eat bacon rolls and sausages.

Mail Online: Islamic militants stone man to death for adultery in Somalia as villagers are forced to watch
Mohamed Ibrahim appeals to Islamic militants not to carry out the execution as he is buried in the ground as his villagers are forced to watch.

BBC: Uganda bans female genital mutilation
Anyone convicted of the practice, which involves cutting off a girl’s clitoris, will face 10 years in jail, or a life sentence if a victim dies.

Spiegel Online: Al-Qaida Kills Eight Times More Muslims Than Non-Muslims
Between 2004 and 2008, for example, al-Qaida claimed responsibility for 313 attacks, resulting in the deaths of 3,010 people. And even though these attacks include terrorist incidents in the West — in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005 — only 12 percent of those killed (371 deaths) were Westerners.

ABC News: Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh
A video tape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates shows a member of the country’s royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails. A man in a UAE police uniform is seen on the tape tying the victim’s arms and legs, and later holding him down as the Sheikh pours salt on the man’s wounds and then drives over him with his Mercedes SUV.

BBC: Swiss minaret ban ‘security risk’
“Provocation risks triggering other provocation and risks inflaming extremism.”

Death By 1000 Papercuts: How Easy to Build a Christian Church in Muslim Countries?
These countries are the largest in the Muslim world.

New York Times: Muslim Prayers Fuel Spiritual Rebuilding Project by Ground Zero
“We want to push back against the extremists.”

All articles continue at links.  Part of a series that never ends… [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and etc.  There are photographs of Mohamed Ibrahim being stoned to death at the above link.  Go ahead, take a look.  Islam is the religion of peace, and there is no compulsion under the religion of Islam.  You just need to level-up your cultural sensitivity to their sacred traditions.  Respect their diversity.  Sure, men get tortured and stoned to death and have parts of their faces cut off, all with the cooperation and enthusiastic participation of the Islamic government.  And yes, women have their genitals mutilated and are sold as slaves.  But just because these people are different doesn’t mean we should fear or hate them.  We need to walk a mile in their shoes before we can judge them.  For heaven’s sake don’t provoke them – provocation risks triggering other provocation and risks inflaming extremism.  See, it’s our fault!  It takes a signature from the President of Egypt to build a Christian church in Egypt.  No Christian churches are allowed in Saudi Arabia at all.  Turkey and Algeria forbid existing Christian churches to be repaired and often order that they be torn down.  Indonesia allows Christian churches to exist providing no worship services occur there on Sundays.  Pakistan Christians generally meet in private homes.  No wonder Muslims are angry that the Swiss have banned the construction of new mosques in their country.  Whether it’s eating pork or building places of worship, Islam is a ‘do as I say not as I do’ sort of superstition.

My opinion counts for little, but here it is.  I’m encouraged by the Muslims described in the last link, those pushing back against their fellow Muslims.  I’m for the free exercise of religion and I’m for secular government. Christianity survived secularization and Islam can survive it as well.  If it cannot or will not, Islam deserves to die out.  Does it seem impossible that a religion could die out, particularly a globe-spanning religion like Islam?  Then spend a little time walking around in the graveyard of the gods to get a little perspective.  Every religion dies out given time.  And a little bit of a shove.