csteele,
Are you saying that teachers should not interfere in school yard bullying because they are more technically advanced.

Dear philo,

I am on the road at the moment so a more fulsome answer later. If a teacher was to see a bully bashing another child I would hope there indeed should be some intervention. What I wouldn't want to see is that teacher bashing the bully because then we end up the kind of world that Yabby seems so comfortable with.

*What I wouldn't want to see is that teacher bashing the bully because then we end up the kind of world that Yabby seems so comfortable with.*

You are a bad judge of character, Csteele. I am actually an
old softie at heart and tend to stick up for the most vulnerable,
who are unable to help themselves.

Using your analogy, if I stood by whilst the teacher ignored the
fact that the bully was bashing little girls, the bully being a
grown man, then I indeed would have a problem.

The Taliban are grown, rough and tough men, hardly little flower
petals. Their behaviour towards the most innocent and vulnerable
in their community is disgusting and frankly they deserve what they
get, if they show so little compassion.

Amazingly you seem to have no compassion for the most vulnerable
and save your compassion for what are basically thugs.

Perhaps its your values that are all screwed up, not mine.

MEEEEOOOOOOOW! Cat fight:)

BLUE

Dear Belly, Yabby and others,

You both have fingered religion as the problem here but I will submit a far greater contributor is the lack of a legal system.

I do not want to downplay the effect of a hyper-conservative form of Islam being inflicted on these people through the auspices of the US and their ally Saudi Arabia in the name of funding the defeat of the Russians. However I think the defining issue is the lawlessness of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

From Wikipedia;

“The region is only nominally controlled by the central and Federal government of Pakistan. “

“The Jurisdiction of Supreme Court and High Court of Pakistan does not extend to FATA and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), according to Article 247 and Article 248, of existing 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly has no power in FATA, and can only exercise its powers in PATA that are part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The assembly cannot implement the law directly as it can do in other parts of the province or Settled Areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This has created a political vacuum in FATA, Frontier Regions and PATA. Such lawless conditions are said to serve the interests of terrorists, as there is absence of various government departments like police, judiciary, local governments, and civic amenities. There are no High Courts and Supreme Courts of Pakistan in Tribal Areas.”

One can only imaging what the religious fundamentalists would inflict on America without the separation of church and state and without a robust, mostly independent, legal system.

This however doesn't stop them exporting some of their hatred.

Cont...

Cont...

Kathleen Park writing in the Washington Post about the proposed Ugandan legislation to execute gays;

“Other evangelical Christians operating in Uganda are less easily excused from responsibility in the country's increasingly hostile attitudes toward gays. Often cited as having stirred the pot are pastors Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge and Don Schmierer, who last March worked with Ugandan faith leaders and politicians to help stop the "homosexualization" of the country.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021605124.html

I do acknowledge and find also terribly offensive the attitude towards gays in much of the Middle East.

The scenes of the Pakistan legal fraternity hitting the streets last year in protest about the government's sacking of their chief shows one of the few shining lights in a particularly troubled country. The Tribal Areas do not have that luxury and even a strict and unforgiving version of Sharia is probably more acceptable than complete lawlessness.

Indeed the Taliban in Afghanistan were unquestionably initially welcomed because of the lawlessness of the Warlords and the horrific civil war that was consuming the country after the West turned its back on it after the routing of the Russians.

If a person, a region, a country is not subject to some form of law then abuses occur. Moving up the chain the fact that the US does not consider itself under any obligation to the International Court is significant. It signed the Rome Statute on December 31, 2000, but that signature was withdrawn under the Bush administration on May 6, 2002.

I'm proud that Australia is a signatory.