Kindness and Crime

New blog

linandara — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:58:24 +0000

Over the years I’ve accumulated several blogs: A general English one, two Russian ones, one about art, two with quotes I like, one with interesting news articles, one with thoughts, one with verses, one with my photos, one with digital art, one with digital finger paintings, one with my photos and paintings… It became too confusing. I want simplicity! One life – one blog. It is still a bit rough, but I’m working on it. So, it will be just this blog, the web page, Facebook, Pinterest & Twitter. Lets see what will happen…

За годы у меня скопилось несколько блогов на разные темы (см выше) и я стала в них путаться. Пытаюсь все свести в один. Если кому-то интересно, подписывайтесь лучше сюда.

What sort of person would use a tragedy like the massacre in Newtown, Conn., as an excuse to advance an extreme, theocratic agenda?

linandara — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:26:43 +0000

Wicked Words: Religious Right Leaders Blame Newtown Shooting On Church-State Separation

Dec 17, 2012 by Simon Brown in Wall of Separation

We need real solutions to the problems of this country, and talking about more official prayers and less evolution in schools isn’t going to get us anywhere.

What sort of person would use a tragedy like the massacre in Newtown, Conn., as an excuse to advance an extreme, theocratic agenda?

If you guessed William J. Murray, you’re correct.

Murray, who heads the Religious Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C., doesn’t blame Adam Lanza for taking the lives of his own mother and 26 others, including 20 children. Instead, the Religious Right activist said it’s lack of school-sponsored prayer that led to the tragedy.

“In the vast majority of America’s public schools, the authority of God has been replaced with the authority of the iron fist of government,” he said. “Morals? Without the authority of God, there are no morals, and none are taught in the public schools today. The ethics that are taught are situational, perhaps the same situational ethics that led to the logic that caused the tragic shootings in Newtown.”

Murray is the son of the late Madalyn Murray O’Hair, who brought one of the cases that spurred the U.S. Supreme Court to get government out of the school prayer business. But Murray, a convert to evangelical Christianity, isn’t a big fan of the U.S. Supreme Court cases (Engel v. Vitale and Abington v. Shempp) that barred coercive prayer from the classroom in the 1960s and, in his mind, are to be blamed for all evil in the United States. (Never mind that deaths from assault have actually decreased substantially in America since they peaked in the late 1970s.)

Murray doesn’t understand that those court cases did absolutely nothing to restrict or undermine morality; they merely gave parents the right to ensure that they could teach their children what religion, if any, they should observe. Those rulings also made it so no child would feel like an outsider if he or she doesn’t believe in a majority faith.

But people like Murray are against true religious freedom and, sadly, he’s far from the only one. A shrill screed posted on American Vision’s website by Gary DeMar blamed the teaching of evolution for violence in our society.

“The problem is, our current culture – through the educational system – is telling young people that they are animals, in some cases, less than animals,” DeMar said. “‘So genetically we are no different (really) from a worm, a bug, or a dandelion.’ If taught long enough, there will be some people who will begin to believe it and act accordingly with no regard for what we regard as a moral worldview.”

That is just all kinds of wrong, which is to be expected from a Dominionist group that envisions an America “where Christians apply a Biblical worldview to every facet of society.” (By that, DeMar and Company mean, of course, their version of Christianity and their “worldview.”) more http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-six-biggest-threats-to-america.html

Killings and spread of disease

linandara — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:07:35 +0000

Growing risks for aid workers

While humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence may seem unthreatening, aid workers have found themselves caught up in political, ethnic and religious tensions.

The Foreign Office official told IRIN: “Militants’ fear that NGO or health workers could be spies, may be spreading into other realms,” an allegation that predates 2011, but which was reinforced by the death of former Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in May of that year.

In 2011 Shakil Afridi, a government-employed doctor, collected DNA samples from a residential house in Abbotabad which helped the US Central Intelligence Agency identify the whereabouts of Bin Laden, who was killed in a US raid. It is alleged that Afridi, since sentenced to 33 years in jail, masqueraded in his native Khyber Agency as a polio vaccinator in order to collect the samples.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, told IRIN: “Afridi was a traitor and naturally people now suspect all anti-polio workers of being US agents.”

Health worker Shahida Bibi, 40, who works in the Mardan District of KP and has regularly participated in anti-polio campaigns, told IRIN: “this is certainly a factor in recent attacks on polio workers.”

She also said other notions, like the “myth sometimes spread by clerics that polio drops cause sterility and are a `Western conspiracy’ to reduce Muslims in the world”, sometimes accounted for hostility and refusals by parents to have children vaccinated.

Security concerns look set to hamper efforts to deliver aid, and eradicate polio in particular. In 2011, Pakistan had 198 cases - more than anywhere else in the world, according to WHO.

Mother jailed for beating son to death for failing to memorise Qur'an

linandara — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 07:54:00 +0000

A mother who beat her seven-year-old son to death for failing to learn the Qur’an by heart and burned his body in an attempt to hide her crime has been jailed for life.

Ege treated her son Yaseen “like a dog” when he struggled to memorise passages of the holy book of Islam, Cardiff crown court heard. Over three months, she beat him until he collapsed on the floor of his bedroom — still mumbling verses — and died.

http://ru-antireligion.livejournal.com/9487617.html

linandara — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 17:52:30 +0000

http://ru-antireligion.livejournal.com/9487617.html

a "Christmas gift"

linandara — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:09:39 +0000

Uganda will pass a new law against homosexuality by the end of 2012 as a “Christmas gift” to its advocates, the speaker of parliament has said.

The AP news agency quoted Rebecca Kadaga as saying that Ugandans were “demanding” the law.

Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, but the bill which is before parliament proposes tougher sentences for people convicted.

Foreign donors have threatened to cut aid if gay rights are not respected.
The bill, tabled by MP David Bahati, proposes jail terms for homosexual acts, including a life sentence in certain circumstances.

It prohibits the “promotion” of gay rights and calls for the punishment of anyone who “funds or sponsors homosexuality” or “abets homosexuality”.

a Catholic country...

linandara — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Woman dies after abortion request ‘refused’ at Galway hospital family said she asked several times for an abortion before she died.

The husband of a pregnant woman who died in an Irish hospital has said he has no doubt she would be alive if she had been allowed an abortion.

Savita Halappanavar’s family said she asked several times for her pregnancy to be terminated because she had severe back pain and was miscarrying.

Her husband told the BBC that it was refused because there was a foetal heartbeat.

Ms Halappanavar’s death, on 28 October, is the subject of two investigations.

An autopsy carried out two days after her death found she had died from septicaemia, according to the Irish Times.

Ms Halappanavar, who was 31 and originally from India, was a dentist.

Praveen Halappanavar said staff at University Hospital Galway told them Ireland was “a Catholic country”.

When asked by the BBC if he thought his wife would still be alive if the termination had been allowed, Mr Halappanavar said: “Of course, no doubt about it.”

"God’s word is true. I’ve come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about..."

linandara — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:11:28 +0100

“God’s word is true. I’ve come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell.”

- Paul Brown, a US Congressman, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology…

"To this day, if I hear a distant scream, it recalls with painful vividness my feelings, when passing..."

linandara — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:21:01 +0100

“To this day, if I hear a distant scream, it recalls with painful vividness my feelings, when passing a house near Pernambuco, I heard the most pitiable moans, and could not but suspect that some poor slave was being tortured, yet knew that I was as powerless as a child even to remonstrate. I suspected that these moans were from a tortured slave, for I was told that this was the case in another instance. Near Rio de Janeiro I lived opposite to an old lady, who kept screws to crush the fingers of her female slaves. I have stayed in a house where a young household mulatto, daily and hourly, was reviled, beaten, and persecuted enough to break the spirit of the lowest animal. I have seen a little boy, six or seven years old, struck thrice with a horse-whip (before I could interfere) on his naked head, for having handed me a glass of water not quite clean; I saw his father tremble at a mere glance from his master’s eye. These latter cruelties were witnessed by me in a Spanish colony, in which it has always been said, that slaves are better treated than by the Portuguese, English, or other European nations. I have seen at Rio de Janeiro a powerful negro afraid to ward off a blow directed, as he thought, at his face. I was present when a kind-hearted man was on the point of separating forever the men, women, and little children of a large number of families who had long lived together. I will not even allude to the many heart-sickening atrocities which I authentically heard of; — nor would I have mentioned the above revolting details, had I not met with several people, so blinded by the constitutional gaiety of the negro as to speak of slavery as a tolerable evil. Such people have generally visited at the houses of the upper classes, where the domestic slaves are usually well treated, and they have not, like myself, lived amongst the lower classes. Such inquirers will ask slaves about their condition; they forget that the slave must indeed be dull, who does not calculate on the chance of his answer reaching his master’s ears.
…
It is often attempted to palliate slavery by comparing the state of slaves with our poorer countrymen: if the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin; but how this bears on slavery, I cannot see; as well might the use of the thumb-screw be defended in one land, by showing that men in another land suffered from some dreadful disease. Those who look tenderly at the slave owner, and with a cold heart at the slave, never seem to put themselves into the position of the latter; what a cheerless prospect, with not even a hope of change! picture to yourself the chance, ever hanging over you, of your wife and your little children — those objects which nature urges even the slave to call his own — being torn from you and sold like beasts to the first bidder! And these deeds are done and palliated by men, who profess to love their neighbours as themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be done on earth! It makes one’s blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty…”

- Charles Darwin

An attack by Taliban gunmen in north-west Pakistan that wounded a 14-year-old who campaigned for girls' rights

linandara — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:37:34 +0100

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head on her way home from school in Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley.

The president and prime minister have led condemnation of the attack.

Initial reports suggested she was out of danger, but there is growing concern over her condition with some reports saying she may need treatment abroad.

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman told the BBC they carried out the attack.

Ehsanullah Ehsan told BBC Urdu that they attacked her because she was anti-Taliban and secular, adding that she would not be spared.

Kashmir Mufti asks US citizens to leave Kashmir

linandara — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 21:36:27 +0100

The top clergyman in Srinagar, Mufti Azam Bashiruddin, on Thursday asked US citizens to leave the Kashmir valley immediately to avoid public wrath in the wake of video clips on the web that disparage Prophet Mohammed.

Speaking to the TOI, the Mufti, the self-appointed chief justice of the ‘shariat’ (Islamic) court in Kashmir, asked people to observe complete strike on Friday in protest against the film.

“I strongly condemn the act and appeal to Kashmiris to register their protest against the film and even attack US citizens if they are seen anywhere in the Valley from tomorrow,” the Mufti Azam said.

"No policeman wants to protect a goddamned atheist. I hope somebody bloodies you up good"

linandara — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:05:17 +0100

from David’s Mills “Atheist Universe” via Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion”

“A Christian faith-healer ran a ‘Miracle Crusade’ which came to Mills’s home town once a year. Among other things, the faith-healer encouraged diabetics to throw away their insulin, and cancer patients to give up their chemotherapy and pray for a miracle instead. Reasonably enough, Mills decided to organize a peaceful demonstration to warn people. But he made the mistake of going to the police to tell them of his intention and ask for police protection against possible attacks from supporters of the faith-healer. The first police officer to whom he spoke asked, ‘Is you gonna protest fir him or ‘gin him?’ (meaning for or against the faith-healer). When Mills replied, ‘Against him,’ the policeman said that he himself planned to attend the rally and intended to spit personally in Mills’s face as he marched past Mills’s demonstration. Mills decided to try his luck with a second police officer. This one said that if any of the faith-healer’s supporters violently con- fronted Mills, the officer would arrest Mills because he was ‘trying to interfere with God’s work’. Mills went home and tried telephoning the police station, in the hope of finding more sympathy at a senior level. He was finally connected to a sergeant who said, ‘To hell with you, Buddy. No policeman wants to protect a goddamned atheist. I hope somebody bloodies you up good.’ Apparently adverbs were in short supply in this police station, along with the milk of human kindness and a sense of duty. Mills relates that he spoke to about seven or eight policemen that day. None of them was helpful, and most of them directly threatened Mills with violence.”

Discrimination Against Atheists The Facts by Margaret Downey

linandara — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:17:15 +0100

…”

Gray, Tennessee: Carletta Sims joined a financial firm in June 2001. Shortly afterward, two Baptist coworkers took offense upon learning that Sims was an atheist. Management granted the coworkers’ request to be assigned workspaces further from Sims. When Sims complained about a picture of Jesus left on her computer, management discharged her. Sims filed suit, seeking $250,000; U.S. District Judge Thomas Hull ruled that “religious discrimination (or preferential treatment of Christians) can be inferred.” In January 2004, the major bank that had since acquired the firm settled with Sims for an undisclosed amount.

Ada, Oklahoma: A Baptist student told a local newspaper she wouldn’t take professor William Zellner’s classes because he was an atheist, triggering a flurry of abuse. Zellner received harassing notes and telephone calls, some threatening. His car was vandalized, for a time on a daily basis. A local church sold “I am praying for Dr. Zellner” buttons. His children experienced shunning and beatings from religious children.

Minneapolis, Minnesota: First-grader Michael Bristor, an atheist, was denied an honor roll certificate when he refused to participate in an unconstitutional “prayer time” at a public school. For three years, administrators ignored the family’s complaints until a lawsuit was filed.

Caro, Michigan: In December 2001, Anonka—an open atheist who maintains a museum of Christian religious atrocities—appeared before the Tuscola County Board of Commissioners to challenge a nativity scene placed on public land. Commissioners responded angrily, saying she had no right to be present and proceeding to ridicule her. Anonka and her family suffered repeated harassment including annoyance calls, threatening calls and letters, and vandalism. In February 2004, the county settled in U.S. District Court, agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum and to issue a “public expression of regret.”

Pocopson, Pennsylvania: My own atheism came to prominence when I became involved in a legal challenge to a Ten Commandments plaque on the wall of the Chester County, Pennsylvania, courthouse. Neighbors organized a shunning campaign, some area merchants refused to do business with me, and I received hundreds of threatening letters and phone calls. (The depth of public animus against me became a subject of local news and magazine coverage.) I was forced to close my interior decorating business because of death threats that compelled me to stop visiting the homes of persons unknown to me.

Calgary, Alberta: An eleven-year-old boy (name withheld) experienced daily physical attacks and threats against his life by schoolmates—notably the sons of three local pastors—after protesting intercom readings of the Lord’s Prayer in a public school. He was repeatedly body-checked into hallway walls and attacked in the rest rooms. One pastor’s son stalked him with a butcher knife in an empty portable classroom. Despite the seriousness of this incident, no action was taken. The boy’s parents transferred him to another school for his own safety…”

Race against the tide: Bravery of young mother who stayed by her horse's side for THREE HOURS after getting trapped in mud 'like quicksand' .

linandara — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 14:56:37 +0100

Exhausted and mud-splattered, Nicole Graham clung to her trapped horse Astro for three hours keeping his head high in a race against the tide.

The 78-stone show horse had sunk into quagmire-like mud and was facing the prospect of drowning as the water rose around them…

Miss Graham stayed at her horse’s side. She courageously clung on to his neck, terrified that he would not be freed before the tide came in.

After three ‘terrifying’ hours, rescuers managed to pull Astro and Miss Graham from the mud.

Miss Graham, who owns more than 10 horses and runs an equine dentistry business, told the Geelong Advertiser how a peaceful afternoon’s ride had turned to terror.

She said: ‘It was terrifying. It was also heartbreaking to see my horse exhausted and struggling…

A local helicopter was put on standby as a last resort at pulling Astro from the mud.

The combined rescue effort paid off. With minutes to spare before the water reached him, Astro - who had been sedated by vet Stacey Sullivan - was dragged from the mud with the aid of the farmer’s tractor.

‘It was a race against the tide and fortunately we won,’ said Lieut Buckle, who praised everyone efforts, including those of Miss Sullivan whose work in sedating Astro made it easier to pull him free.

Miss Sullivan said Astro was dehydrated but had coped well.

Dancing girl 'murdered by Taliban after refusing to give up traditional performances despite death threats'

linandara — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:30:00 +0100

The Taliban has reportedly killed a traditional dancing girl in Pakistan, underlining its growing power in the the North-West Frontier Province.

Shabana’s bullet-riden body was found slumped on the ground in the centre of Mingora’s Green Square, strewn with money, CD recordings of her performances and photographs from her albums.

A Taliban leader later appeared on FM radio to admit the killing and warn the militant organisation would not tolerate any ‘un-Islamic vices’.

He said any other girls found performing in the city’s Banr Bazaar would be killed ‘one by one’.

The last of the bazaar’s celebrated dancing girls - once a 1000 strong industry - have reportedly packed up and fled to Karachi and Lahore, where their talents remain in great demand.

A resident of Banr Bazaar, Fayaz, said dance performances had earned participants about 50,000 rupees (£415) a night until the Taliban denounced them as prostitution.

The narrow street where the performers plied their trade until last week now closes at 8pm and only residents can enter, while signs state:’We have stopped dancing, please do not knock on the door.’

Shabana reportedly paid the price for publicly defying the Taliban’s radio mullahs, ignoring personal warnings to stop performing and training young dancers.

‘On the eve of January 2, some men knocked at the door and asked for a dance party,’ Shabana’s father Qamar Gul reportedly said.

‘She instantly agreed and opened the room and asked the men to wait while she prepared herself.

‘When she returned the four men said: “Let us start.” They seized her at gunpoint and told her they were going to slit her throat’

The dancer reportedly cried for help and begged for her life, but she was dragged out of her house to Green Square and shot.

The Taliban and the Pakistan Army have been fighting for control of the Swat Valley, where the millitant organisation recently ordered girls’ schools and music shops to close and forced barbers to stop shaving beards.

But with the woman’s death and the dancers’ banishment the Islamic extremist group has once again tightened its hold.

also here http://www.freemuse.org/sw33489.asp

Seventeen beheaded by Taliban for mixed-sex dancing

linandara — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:27:34 +0100

Afghans say mixed-sex party ended in killings by fundamental Islamist group

LAST UPDATED AT 11:45 ON Mon 27 Aug 2012

FIFTEEN men and two women found beheaded in Helmand province, Afghanistan, were executed by the Taliban as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing.

The bodies were discovered this morning near where the had been held on Sunday night, district governor Nimatullah, who goes by one name, told the Reuters news agency. The governor of Helmand, Daud Ahmadi, said a team had been sent to the site of the beheadings to investigate.

Mixed-sex parties are unusual in Afghanistan and usually held in secret. Men and women do not normally mix with each other, claimed the agency, unless they are related or married.

During the fundamentalist group’s five years in power before it was ousted by the US in 2002, women lost the right to vote, to do many paid jobs or to leave home without a male relative or husband to accompany them.

In June this year, the Taliban stormed a lakeside hotel near Kabul which they said was used for “wild parties”, demanding to know where the “pimps and prostitutes” were. They killed 20 people, says Reuters.

Security camera clips that make the news usually show bad...

linandara — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 06:47:32 +0100

Security camera clips that make the news usually show bad things, but Coke decided to “look at the world a little differently” in this heartwarming viral video. They found security camera footage from around the world showing happy moments: people stealing kisses instead of possessions, dealing potato chips instead of drugs, and offering car assistance rather than road rage. [x]

Male genital mutilation (circumcision) deaths

linandara — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 07:42:00 +0100

Some babies die of complications of circumcision.¹ There has been a need to assemble information concerning death from complications of circumcision in one convenient location. This page is designed to fill that need.

Deaths occur secondary to loss of blood or systemic infection from the circumcision wound.

A few deaths are reported in the medical literature. Other medical literature discusses the frequency of those deaths. A few deaths are reported in the popular press.

There is reason to believe that many deaths from circumcision are attributed to other causes. For example, if a baby were to die of meningitis that was contracted through the circumcision wound, the death may be attributed to meningitis while ignoring the fact that the baby would not have had meningitis if he had not been circumcised.

Circumcision originated before the dawn of history. There was no knowledge of sanitation or the need for a sterile operating environment. Jews have traditionally performed circumcision on the eighth day after birth for many thousands of years. The medical literature was still reporting numerous deaths from ritual circumcision in the early twentieth century.^{2, 3} There must have been vast numbers of babies who died under those conditions through the centuries. Jewish law allows parents who have had three sons die from circumcision to leave the fourth son intact.⁶

Doctors are highly motivated to conceal the true cause of circumcision death. Neonatal circumcision has no medical indication and is now considered to be an unnecessary⁷ non-therapeutic⁸ operation. It is unethical to carry out such operations on minors who cannot consent for themselves.⁹ Consequently, most doctors who have a baby die after a circumcision would prefer to attribute the results of his unethical operation to secondary causes, such as infection or bleeding, while ignoring the primary cause, which is the circumcision that resulted in the infection or bleeding. It is, therefore, very hard to identify the total number of deaths that occur from circumcision. One senses that one may be seeing only the “tip of the iceberg,” with the vast majority of deaths from circumcision being concealed. The deaths undoubtedly cause an increase in infant mortality. Male infant mortality is higher than female infant mortality. It is not known how much of this increased mortality is due to the practice of male circumcision.

Several doctors have given estimates of the number of deaths that occur each year. Douglas Gairdner reported 16-19 actual deaths a year in England and Wales from neonatal circumcisions in the 1940s.¹⁰ Sydney Gellis believed that “there are more deaths from complications of circumcision than from cancer of the penis.¹¹ There are various figures for the number of deaths from penile cancer ranging from 200 to 480 deaths per year. Robert Baker estimated 229 deaths per year from circumcision in the United States.¹²

There are several case reports of death in the medical literature. These are deaths from various infections.^2-5,13-15 Sauer reported the death of an 18-day-old infant from Staphylococcal bronco-pneumonia.⁵ Hiss et al. reported the death of an infant in Israel from haemorrhage and hypovolemic shock after ritual circumcision.²¹

There are several newspaper accounts of boys who have died after circumcision. These are from bleeding and from complications of anesthesia.^{16-17,19-21,22-36}

Several coroner’s reports of deaths from circumcision are known to exist.¹⁸³⁸ Demetrius Manker died from blood loss in Dade County, Florida on June 23, 1993.¹⁸ The coroner’s report on the death of a previously healthy one-month-old infant, Ryleigh Roman Bryan McWillis, less that 48 hours after his circumcision,²⁴ is available. Baby Ryleigh died of hypovolemic shock, after exsanguination caused by hemorrhage at the circumcision wound.³⁸³⁹ Ryleigh’s mother said, “I unplugged his life support at 5 a.m. on the 22nd of August, one month and one day after he was born.”³⁹

Despite the abundant evidence of death from circumcision-related-causes, the March 2009 Circumcision Policy Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics omitted any mention of possible death from circumcision-related-causes, thereby helping to keep American parents uninformed of the possibility of death following circumcision.

Many African tribes have initation ceremonies in which a youth or young man is initiated into manhood. The youths are sent to a camp in a remote area where initiation ceremonies, including circumcision, take place. The circumcisions are carried out by persons without medical training. African tribal ritual circumcision produces reports of death or serious injury every year.^{28-36, 39,40} The Mail and Guardian reports seven dead in the Fall of 2003 and a total of 250 dead since 1995.³⁶

Amitai Moshe, age 8 days, went into cardiac arrest after a ritual circumcision at Golder’s Green Synagogue, London. He was taken from the synagogue directly to hospital and died eight days later.^43-45

A family doctor in Ontario circumcised an unnamed healthy infant at seven days of age. The infant suffered multiple complications and died seven days later of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.⁴⁶

Identified victims

Some victims of circumcision are known by name. They are:

Julius Katzenstein: 8-days-old, bled to death after circumcision, 14 December 1856, New York, NY, USA.
Myer Jacob Levy: 8-days-old, bled to death after circumcision, 18 April 1858, New York, NY, USA.
Aleck, Baby Boy: Died June 10, 1910, Island County, Washington, USA.
Michael Julian Baldwin: infant boy, 4-days-old, hemorrhage after circumcision. 21 August 1927, Monroe County, Indiana, USA.
Baby boy Lebeau, death by circumcision, April 1942, Quebec, Canada.
Roland Albert McCarty: infant boy. Death by infection of circumcision wound. Died 1932, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
“J.B.”: Died December 1942, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
Bruce Wechsler: infant boy, Staph infection following circumcision. 1957, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Chino Burrell: 7-months-old, death by circumcision, 9 June 1974, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Christopher Dolezal: Died November 1982, Des Moines, IA, USA.
Steven Christopher Chacon: Died November 1986, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Boma Oruitemeka: Death by circumcision, severe hemorrhage. 1990, London, England, UK.
Raju Miah: Death by circumcision. July 1991, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom.
Allen A. Ervin: Died July 8, 1992, Spartanburg, SC
Demetrius Manker: Died June 23, 1993, Carol City, Dade County, Florida, USA.¹⁷
Jeremie Johnson: Died July 18, 1995, Houston, TX, USA.¹⁹
Dustin Evans: Died October 1998, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Ryleigh Roman Bryan McWillis: Died August 22, 2002, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada³⁵
Zola Mjamba: Died November 19, 2002, Umtata, South Africa
Sifiso Kobo: Died November 21, 2002, Umtata, South Africa
Nui Jia Yuan, 4-years-old. Death by asphyxia following circumcision. March 26, 2003, Singapore.
Callis Osaghae: Monday, August 18, 2003, Regional Hospital, Waterford, Ireland.²⁶
Bennett Ntazina, adolescent boy. Death by circumcision. December 2003, Jan Kempdorp, South Africa.
Thamsanqa Mnyaka, 19, of Whittlesea, South Africa: Died Friday, 12 December 2003.
Myolisi Mayekiso, 18, also of Whittlesea, South Africa: Died Friday, 12 December 2003.
Andile Masabalala, 21, of Tsomo, South Africa: Died Monday, 15 December 2003.
Sabelo Marotya, 17, at Mdantsane, South Africa: Died Sunday, July 4, 2004.
Infant twin (by herpes virus, circumcised by Rabbi Yitzhok Fischer who had herpes and performed metziza by mouth [sucking the blood] on baby’s penis) New York, New York, USA, October, 2004.
Dontsa Lwane, 19 (by suicide after botched circumcision of Dec 11, 2004) Gqebenya, Lady Frere, South Africa, January 8, 2005.
Wandile Lwane, 21 (Dontsa’s brother, by suicide after learning of Dontasa’s death) Ezibeleni, Queenstown, South Africa, January 9, 2005
Muyoddin Khan, 5, Indrapur, Nepal, February 10, 2005.
Abou Quir, infant boy, Alexandria, Egypt, February 15, 2005.
Jacob Christian Holliday. Circumcision damaged already-defective heart, requiring heart transplant at age two. Death resulted from cancer caused by immuno-suppresant drugs and resultant cancer at age 4, 20 October 2005, Orlando, Florida, USA.
Patrick Hoho, 58 (hacked to death by Hoho’s circumcision victim), Port Elizabeth, South Africa, July 3, 2006.
Sello Ntsie, 18 (beaten to death at a circumcision “initiation school” before he could be circumcised), Zuurbekom, near Westonaria, South Africa, July 5, 2006.
Siyabonga Radebe, 14 (beaten to death at a circumcision “initiation school” before he could be circumcised), Zuurbekom, near Westonaria, South Africa, July 5, 2006.
Nkhiphitheni Nehelula, 9, Guyuni-Dzumbama village near Mutale, Limpopo, South Africa, July 8 or 9, 2006.
Xola Mbuqe, 18, Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa, November 26, 2006.
Lunga Nocanda, 18, Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa, December 18, 2006.
Infant boy. Death by bleeding following circumcision in Creswell, Oregon,February 2007, Sacred Heart Hospital, Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Amitai Moshe, 2 weeks, after a ritual circumcision at Golders Green Synagogue, London. February 9, 2007.
Celian Noumbiwe, boy, nine weeks, death by circumcision, bled to death, 22 February 2007, Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom.
Kulideep Kumar Vishnubhai Patel, 10-year-old boy, death by circumcision, 18 November 2007, Unjha, Gujarat, India,
Infant boy, 18-days-old, death by circumcision, 18 November 2007, Pilar District, Tarragona, Nigeria.
18-year-old male, death by circumcision, November 2007, Gxulu Village, Umtata, South Africa.
Obosee Prince Aseh, boy, 2-months, death by circumcision, haemorrhage, 5 June 2008, Treviso, Italy.
Gino Erojo, 11-years-old. Death by infection following circumcision, 3 August 2008, Panciao, Manjyod, Negroes Oriental, Philippines.
Beasley Allen Terrebonne, age 48, death by suicide after botched circumcision and resulting depression. 23 December 2008, Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA.
Eric Keefe, 6-week-old infant boy, death by blood loss following circumcision, 14 July 2008, Indian Health Service Hospital, Rosebud, South Dakota, USA.
Yogama Boya, 18-year-old male, death by circumcision, July 2008, Qumbu area of Transkei, South Africa.
Johnson Killed. Age 2 years and 7 months. death by circumcision. 22 July 2008, Bari, Italy.
Bradley Dorcius, boy, 7-months-old. Death by circumcision, October 2009, SUNY Downstate Hospital. Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Kaan Otuk, boy, one-month-old. Death by circumcision anaesthesia overdose, 31 October 2009, Çukurova State Hospital, Adana, Turkey.
Sonke Foca, male, 19-years-old. Death by dehydration following circumcision, 11 November 2009, Butterworth, Transkei, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Goodluck Caubergs, Baby. Bled to death after circumcision. Oldham, England, April 17, 2010.
Saijad Hossain Mimu, 6-years-old. Death by lidocaine anaesthetic overdose, 25 September 2010, Safapur, Amirbad Union,Sonagazi Upazila, Feni District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Joshua Haskins, 7-weeks old. Died 19 hours after having circumcision followed by prolonged bleeding, despite having congenital heart defect and being in intensive care. October 6, 2010, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
Jaamal Coleson, Jr., toddler, of Brooklyn, New York. Died at Beth Israel Medical Center, Manhattan, New York City after a circumcision on Tuesday, May 3, 2011.⁵⁰
James Connor, infant, seven pounds eight ounces, 21 inches long. Born at Pittsburgh, Friday, November 25, 2011. Died Saturday night, November 26, 2011. Death by bleeding after circucision.
Anonymous Jewish infant, two weeks old. Death from Herpes infection, Maimonides Hospital, Brookyn, New York, September 28, 2011.⁵¹
Two boys, Arif, age 4 and Azhar, age 3,in Rakasipet, Bodhan, Andhra Pradesh India. The boys died on Monday, April 30, 2012 after a circumcision a few days before by a rural medical practitioner at Masjid Colony in the Rakasipet area due to uncontrolled “overbleeding”.
Infant boy, age two-weeks. Circumcised Sunday, 6 May 2012 in a doctor’s office on the east side of Oslo, Norway. Died of complications Tuesday, 8 May 2012.

Library holdings

Williams N, Kapila L. Complications of circumcision. Brit J Surg 1993;80:1231-6.
Holt LE. Tuberculosis acquired through ritual circumcision. JAMA 1913;LXI(2):99-102.
Reuben MS. Tuberculosis from ritual circumcision. Proceedings of the New York Academy of Medicine 1916; (December 15): 333-334.
Rosenstein JL. Wound diphtheria in the newborn infant following circumcision: report of a case. J Pediatr 1941;18:657-8.
Sauer LW. Fatal staphylococcus bronchopneumonia following ritual circumcision. Am J Obstetr Gynecol 1943;46:583.
The Talmud of Babylonia: An American Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner. Number 251. Volume XIII.B: Tractate Yebamot, Chapters 4-6. Program in Judaic Studies Brown University. Atlanta: Scholars Press. 1992.
Denniston GC. Unnecessary Circumcision. The Female Patient 1992: 17: 13-14.
Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association. Report 10: Neonatal circumcision. Chicago: American Medical Association, 1999.
Hodges FM, Svoboda JS, Van Howe RS. Prophylactic interventions on children: balancing human rights with public health. J Med Ethics 2002;28(1):10-16.
Gairdner D. The fate of the foreskin: a study of circumcision. Br Med J 1949; 2:1433-1437.
Gellis SS. Circumcision. Am J Dis Child 1978;132:1168.
Baker RL. Newborn male circumcision: needless and dangerous. Sexual Medicine Today 1979;3(11):35-36.
Scurlock JM, Pemberton PJ. Neonatal meningitis and circumcision. Med J Aust 1977;1(10):332-
Cleary TG, Kohl S. Overwhelming infection with group B beta-hemolytic streptococcus associated with circumcision. Pediatrics 1979;64(3):301-303.
Peter Rachter. Grand jury to probe death of baby after circumcision. The Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Saturday, November 20, 1982.
Boy in coma most of his 6 years dies. The State, Columbia South Carolina, July 10, 1992: F21.
Baby bleeds to death after circumcision. Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, June 26, 1993.
Wetli CV. Case 93-1711. Autopsy of Demetrius Manker. Miami: Dade County Medical Examiner Department, June 23, 1993.
Lyndia Lum, Ruth Sorelle. Boy’s death to be probed. Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas, Friday, July 28, 1995, page 28A.
Circumcision That Didn’t Heal Kills Boy, NewsNet5, Cleveland, OH, October 20, 1998.
Hiss J, Horowitz A, Kahana T. Fatal haemorrhage following male ritual circumcision. J Clin Forensic Med 2000;7:32-4.
Omskuren treåring dog av bedövning [Circumcised three-year-old died from anaesthesia]. Aftonbladet, Stockholm, Sweden, Friday, 9 February 2001.
Paul Stokes. Patient died ‘because surgeon guessed dose’. Daily Telegraph, Friday, November 30, 2001.
Sandra Vogel-Hockley. Death of local baby subject of investigation. The Penticton Western, Penticton, B.C., Volume 36, Issue 69, 31 August 2002.
Man hunted after death of circumcision baby. Online.ie, Dublin, 20 August 2003.
Infant dies after home circumcision. Munster Express, Munster, Southeathern Ireland, Friday, 22 August 2003.
Initiation Horror as Four Dead. Eastern Province Herald, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Friday, July 19, 1996.
Chris McGreal. Botched circumcision kills boys. The Guardian, London, 7 January 2000.
Dumisane Lubisi, African Eye News Service. Boy bleeds to death after circumcision. News24, South Africa, 26 June 2001.
Steven Kretzmann. Hospitals Struggle Against Odds to Treat Septic Initiates. East Cape News, Grahamtown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 01 August 2001.
Dumisane Lubisi. 11-year-old dies after botched circumcision. Daily Mail and Guardian, South Africa, Thursday, 16 August 2001.
Sarie Van Niekerk. Five teens die during initiation. Natal Witness, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Wednesday, 26 June 2002.
Fourteen dead after initiation rituals in S.Africa. The Times of India, 5 July 2002.
Circumcision leaves 24 dead, 100 in hospital. The Star, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, 17 July 2002.
Madoda Dyonana. ‘Errant surgeon will be found’. Business Day, Saturday, 7 December 2002.
Law vs tradition in circumcision debacle. The Mail and Guardian. Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday, 8 December 2003.
Newell TEC. Judgement of inquiry into the death of McWillis, Ryleigh Roman Bryan. Burnaby, B.C.: British Columbia Coroner’s Service, Monday, 19 January 2004. [HTML file]
Newell TEC. Judgement of inquiry into the death of McWillis, Ryleigh Roman Bryan. Burnaby, B.C.: British Columbia Coroner’s Service, Monday, 19 January 2004. [PDF file]
Suzanne Fournier. Lack of post-surgery info angers grieving parents. The Province, Vancouver, B.C., Friday, 13 February 2004.
Circumcision school initiate dies. South African Press Association (SAPA), 8 July 2004.
Lulamile Feni. 10 die in botched circumcisions, 32 fight for lives. Daily Dispatch, East London, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, Tuesday, 13 December 2005.
Bollinger D. Death and the new penis. International Coalition for Genital Integrity, 2006. [Full Text]
Stephen Moyes. 7-day old dies after circumcision. The Mirror, London, Thursday, 15 February 2007.
Martin Beckford. Police investigate baby’s death after circumcision. Daily Telegraph, London, Friday, 16 February 2007.
Polly Curtis. Police probe death of baby after circumcision. The Guardian, London, Saturday, February 17, 2007.
Paediatric Death Review Committee: Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario. Circumcision: a minor procedure? Paediatr Child Health 2007;12(4):311-2.
Boy, 4, dies after circumcision. Electric New Paper, Singapore, 25 June 2007.
Unjha doctors strike work. Express India, Tuesday, 20 November 2007.
Edward Koech. Boy bleeds to death after ‘cut’. The Nation, Nairobi, Friday, December 14, 2007.
Cynthia R. Fagen. Tot’s shock hosp death: Tragic circumcision. New York Post, Thursday, May 5, 2011.
Liz Robbins. Baby’s Death Renews Debate Over a Circumcision Ritual. New York Times, Wednesday, March 7, 2012.

(File revised 14 May 2012)

Christian girl with Down’s Syndrome arrested in Pakistan for desecrating Koran: reports

linandara — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 20:07:33 +0100

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A young Christian girl with Down’s Syndrome has been arrested in Pakistan for desecrating Koran, according to reports

The girl, believed to be as young as 11, was arrested for violating the country’s strict blasphemy laws after a mob surrounded her house and accused her of burning pages of the Koran.

The arrest of the girl and outrage among the local community demonstrates the deep emotion that suspected blasphemy cases can evoke in this conservative Muslim country, where rising extremism often means religious minorities live in fear of persecution.

In Pakistan, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, or holy book, the Koran, can be sentenced to death, although they’re rarely if ever executed.

A Pakistani police officer, Zabi Ullah, said Monday that the girl was arrested Thursday after hundreds of neighbours, angry over reports she had allegedly burned religious papers, gathered outside her house in a poor outlying district of the capital, Islamabad.

He said the police took the girl to the police station, and that she’s been held for 14 days while authorities investigate.

“About 500-600 people had gathered outside her house in Islamabad, and they were very emotional, angry and they might have harmed her if we had not quickly reacted,” he said.

“Some Muslims from the area claim the girl had burned pages of the Koran, and we are investigating, and we have not reached any conclusion,” he said.

Mukhtar Khan, neighbor of an arrested Christian girl, shows the locked house of a girl and vowed will never allow them to live in this neighborhood, in a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Aug. 20, 2012.

Another police official, Qasim Niazi, said when the girl was brought to the police station she had a shopping bag that contained various religious and Arabic-language papers that had been partly burned but no Koran.

Another police officer said the matter would likely be dropped once the investigation is completed and the atmosphere is defused, saying there was “nothing much to the case.” He did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the case.

There were varying reports on the girl’s age and whether she was mentally handicapped. Ullah said she was 16 while other officials have said she was either 12 or 11. Niazi said that when the girl was brought to the police station she was scared and unable to speak normally, but he did not know whether she was mentally handicapped.

Christians often live in fear that they will be accused of blasphemy, and many critics say the legislation is sometimes used to settle scores.

Angry mobs have been known to sometimes take the law into their own hands and beat or kill people who are accused of violating the blasphemy laws. In July, thousands of people dragged a Pakistani man accused of desecrating the Koran from a police station in the central Pakistani city of Bahawalpur, beat him to death and then set his body on fire.

Attempts to revoke or alter the blasphemy laws have been met with violent opposition, however.

Last year, two prominent Pakistani political figures who spoke out against the laws were killed, in attacks that raised concerns about the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan.

Liberal politician Salman Taseer was shot and killed by one of his own guards in January 2011, and in March 2011, militants gunned down Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian minister in Pakistan’s Cabinet.

A spokesperson for Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Farhatullah Babar, said the president has taken “serious note” of reports of the girl’s arrest and has asked the Interior Ministry to look into the case.

Police: Woodburn priest chased boy down street after abuse

linandara — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:00:38 +0100

Published: Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 10:45 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 15, 2012, 10:14 AM

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

It was close to midnight Sunday when Woodburn resident James Curths saw the 12-year-old boy running down the street toward him. Curths said the child, panting and out of breath, begged for help, telling him a man was chasing him.

Moments later, a man rounded the corner wearing only underwear. He stood a short distance away, trying to wave the boy over as Curths and his sister-in-law prepared to drive the boy to relatives.

“He was staring at us,” said Heather Rodriguez, 28, Curths’ sister-in-law, who was also outside. “Then he stood there with his hands on his hips like, ‘You’re really not going to give him to me?’”

Rodriguez and Curths, 35, told the man they were calling the police. Only then, they said, did the man jog away.

The man who chased after the boy that night, Woodburn police say, was the Rev. Angel Armando Perez, the parish priest at St. Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn. Early Monday, the boy gave police a detailed account of the alleged sex abuse he said occurred at Perez’s home, leading to Perez’s arrest later Monday.

Court records released Tuesday detail the alleged abuse and the pastor’s actions after the incident.

“Father Angel touched me”

Perez was arraigned in Marion County Circuit Court on Tuesday, appearing via video from Marion County Jail, wearing a black V-neck top with his hands secured in front of his waist. He faced allegations of first-degree sexual abuse, abuse of a child in the display of sexually explicit conduct, furnishing alcohol to a minor and driving under the influence of intoxicants.
The Salem boy told authorities that Perez had asked his parents a few days earlier if he could take him on a trip to the mountains. He and his family attended a community church event Sunday night, and the 12-year-old went with Perez that night to the pastor’s house, a grayish-green home less than 200 paces from the church’s front door.

The boy told police Perez gave him a beer and they watched a movie. The boy told investigators that an air mattress was set up on the living room floor for him to sleep on. He said he fell asleep on the mattress, the affidavit said.

Later, the boy said, he was “woken up by a couple of flashes.”

He said that when he opened his eyes, he saw Perez next to the air mattress, with one hand on the boy’s genitals and one hand holding a cellphone. The boy discovered his underwear and shorts lowered to his knees, while Perez was dressed in underwear and a T-shirt, the boy told police.

The boy said he went to pack up his things when Perez went upstairs. “Father Angel called to him saying, ‘Come back to bed,’” the police affidavit says.

Instead, the boy said goodbye and ran off.

Curths, who was hosting a barbecue when the boy showed up outside his house, said he looked distraught. “He just seemed really terrified, and he was almost in tears,” Curths said.

When the pastor caught up to the boy outside Curths’ house, wearing what Curths and his sister-in-law said looked like a burgundy Speedo swimsuit, the boy hid behind Curths.

“He was scared to death,” Curths said. “It was like someone running from a ghost.”

Kindness and Crime

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An attack by Taliban gunmen in north-west Pakistan that wounded a 14-year-old who campaigned for girls' rights

Kashmir Mufti asks US citizens to leave Kashmir

"No policeman wants to protect a goddamned atheist. I hope somebody bloodies you up good"

Discrimination Against Atheists The Facts by Margaret Downey

…”

Race against the tide: Bravery of young mother who stayed by her horse's side for THREE HOURS after getting trapped in mud 'like quicksand' .

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Afghans say mixed-sex party ended in killings by fundamental Islamist group

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Male genital mutilation (circumcision) deaths

Identified victims

See also:

Library holdings

Christian girl with Down’s Syndrome arrested in Pakistan for desecrating Koran: reports

Police: Woodburn priest chased boy down street after abuse

Published: Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 10:45 PM Updated: Wednesday, August 15, 2012, 10:14 AM