Ball Don't Lie Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:30 am EDT
Way to go, Jamaal Magloire
By Trey Kerby
Ever since he was chosen as a reserve for the 2004 All-Star Game, Jamaal Magloire(notes) has been a bit of a running joke in NBA circles. Even though the Detroit Pistons won that year's title, Magloire was the embodiment of a weak Eastern Conference — "Heck, if that Canadian Jamaal Magloire can make an All-Star team, the East must be pretty weak" is how the story went. But just because he's possibly the most underwhelming All-Star of the past two decades, there is no reason to say that Jamaal Magloire isn't still good.
No, not at basketball. He's still pretty underwhelming at that. But at life he seems like he's got it figured out. From the Toronto Star's Doug Smith:
When he heard of the murder last Monday of single mother Lucita Charles - who left behind a 7-year-old son with cerebral palsy - not only did Jamaal Magloire think he could help out, he did help out.
The 10-year NBA veteran paid for the funeral for Charles (the city's 18th murder victim of this year) and plans to establish a trust fund for her orphaned son. [...]
"That's the most important thing: what's going to happen to (Charles' son)," he said. "We're going to try to set up this fund for him so that maybe in the future, when he needs special treatment or a special doctor, he can get it."
Awesome. And the best part is that Magloire wanted absolutely no credit for what he did. As Smith says, "He didn't do it for the publicity — he was upset that news of his actions first leaked out — but because he cares a bit."
Sorry, Jamaal Magloire, but when you do something this good and this cool, people are going to notice. Probably worth it though.
(Also, I have to mention that the Star's headline is pretty weird. Check it out and see if you don't mix up some verbs and get confused about what Magloire was trying to help with. It's like a Magic Eye for headlines.)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Ray Kornhoff question by Fred Ramsey- Recent P-Town story
Original Message -----
From: Fred Ramsey
To: Sam Kegley
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 21:49
Subject: Ray K
Hey Sam ..........I was just reading this story of the P-Town sports and saw a name that interests me ... I worked at the Williams Mfg with a man named Ray Kornhoff. Is this the same person in the story?..............Fred
Yes it is, Fred. Ray was in Williams Mfg. supervision in addition to coaching the Portsmouth Central Catholic sports teams for several years. Mick Kornhoff said: "Dad had moved to Portsmouth from the Covington/Newport area in the greater Cincinnati community. Dad had introduced fast-pitch to Portsmouth and he was a pitcher.
"Dad coached Wayne widdig and Ed Schmidt in football and basketball at Portsmouth Central Catholic. Wayne graduated in 1944.":
From my Softball "It Don' Matta" book p169.
Sam
-----
From: Fred Ramsey
To: Sam Kegley
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 21:49
Subject: Ray K
Hey Sam ..........I was just reading this story of the P-Town sports and saw a name that interests me ... I worked at the Williams Mfg with a man named Ray Kornhoff. Is this the same person in the story?..............Fred
Yes it is, Fred. Ray was in Williams Mfg. supervision in addition to coaching the Portsmouth Central Catholic sports teams for several years. Mick Kornhoff said: "Dad had moved to Portsmouth from the Covington/Newport area in the greater Cincinnati community. Dad had introduced fast-pitch to Portsmouth and he was a pitcher.
"Dad coached Wayne widdig and Ed Schmidt in football and basketball at Portsmouth Central Catholic. Wayne graduated in 1944.":
From my Softball "It Don' Matta" book p169.
Sam
-----
Monday, June 14, 2010
New Bill Maudlin stamp 2010- another Jack Plymale and 'the Bookers' pearl
Thanks again, Jack!
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/07/greene.mauldin.stamp/index.html
My younger son, Jeff, a Grandview Heights teacher and a Dublin Jerome football assistant coach, coaches those dumb old linemen which you once were, has taken an interest in WWII and the people who served us. Gib always touted the linemen as the ones to make the team go even though the backs got all the press. I have Bill Maudlin's "Up Front" which I am giving him to read along with a couple of Ernie Pyle books.
Don't we know who America's heroes truly are! I was not up front with them, but for the will of God and Army orders, I might have been. I was in the battles of Tokyo during and after the Korean "police action' from 1953 trhrough 1954.
Sam
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack H Plymale" jackh.plymale@gmail.com
To: ">" <@smtp109.sbc.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Bill Mauldin stamp honors grunts' hero.
The post office gets a lot of criticism. Always has, always will.
And with the renewed push to get rid of Saturday mail delivery,
expect complaints to intensify.
But the United States Postal Service deserves a standing ovation
for something that happened last month: Bill Mauldin got his own
postage stamp.
Mauldin died at age 81 in the early days of 2003. The end of his
life had been rugged. He had been scalded in a bathtub, which led to
terrible injuries and infections; Alzheimer's disease was inflicting
its cruelties. Unable to care for himself after the scalding, he
became a resident of aCalifornia nursing home, his health and spirits
in rapid decline.
He was not forgotten, though. Mauldin, and his work, meant so
much to the millions of Americans who fought in World War II, and to
those who had waited for them to come home. He was a kid cartoonist
for Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper; Mauldin's drawings of
his muddy, exhausted, whisker-stubbled infantrymen Willie and Joe
were the voice of truth about what it was like on the front lines.
Mauldin was an enlisted man just like the soldiers he drew for;
his gripes were their gripes, his laughs were their laughs, his
heartaches were their heartaches. He was one of them. They loved him.
He never held back. Sometimes, when his cartoons cut too close
for comfort, his superior officers tried to tone him down. In one
memorable incident, he enraged Gen. George S. Patton, and Patton
informed Mauldin he wanted the pointed cartoons -- celebrating the
fighting men, lampooning the high-ranking officers -- to stop. Now.
"I'm beginning to feel like a fugative from th' law of averages."
The news passed from soldier to soldier. How was Sgt. Bill
Mauldin going to stand up to Gen. Patton? It seemed impossible.
Not quite. Mauldin, it turned out, had an ardent fan: Five-star
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in
Europe . Ike put out the word: Mauldin draws what Mauldin wants.
Mauldin won. Patton lost.
If, in your line of work, you've ever considered yourself a young
hotshot, or if you've ever known anyone who has felt that way about
himself or herself, the story of Mauldin's young manhood will humble
you. Here is what, by the time he was 23 years old, Mauldin had
accomplished:
"By the way, wot wuz them changes you wuz gonna make
when you took over last month, sir?"
He won the Pulitzer Prize. He was featured on the cover of Time
magazine. His book "Up Front" was the No. 1 best-seller in the United
States .
All of that at 23. Yet when he returned to civilian life and he
grew older, he never lost that boyish Mauldin grin, he never outgrew
his excitement about doing his job, he never big-shotted or
high-hatted the people with whom he worked every day.
I was lucky enough to be one of them; Mauldin roamed the hallways
of theChicago Sun-Times in the late 1960s and early 1970s with no
more officiousness or air of haughtiness than if he was a copyboy.
That impish look on his face remained.
He had achieved so much. He had won a second Pulitzer Prize, and
he should have won a third, for what may be the single greatest
editorial cartoon in the history of the craft: his deadline rendering,
on the day President John F. Ken nedy was assassinated, of the statue
at the Lincoln Memorial slumped in grief, its head cradled in its
hands. But he never acted as if he was better than the people he met.
He was still Mauldin the enlisted man.
During the late summer of 2002, as Mauldin lay in that California
nursing home, some of the old World War II infantry guys caught wind
of it. They didn't want Mauldin to go out that way. They thought he
should know that he was still their hero.
"This is th' town my pappy told me about."
Gordon Dillow, a columnist for the Orange County Register, put
out the call in Southern California for people in the area to send
their best wishes to Mauldin; I joined Dillow in the effort, helping
to spread the appeal nationally so that Bill would not feel so alone.
Soon more than 10,000 letters and cards had arrived at Mauldin's
bedside.
Even better than that, the old soldiers began to show up just to
sit with Mauldin, to let him know that they were there for him, as
he, long ago, had been there for them. So many volunteered to visit
Bill that there was a waiting list. Here is how Todd DePastino, in
the first paragraph of his wonderful biography of Mauldin, described
it:
"Almost every day in the summer and fall of 2002 they came to
Park Superior nursing home in Newport Beach , California , to honor
Army Sergeant, Technician Third Grade, Bill Mauldin. They came bearing
relics of their youth: medals, insignia, photographs, and carefully
folded newspaper clippings. Some wore old garrison caps. Others
arrived resplendent in uniforms over a half century old. Almost all
of them wept as they filed down the corridor like pilgrims fulfilling
some long-neglected obligation."
One of the veterans explained to me why it was so important:
"You would have to be part of a combat infantry unit to
appreciate what moments of relief Bill gave us. You had to be reading
a soaking wet Stars and Stripes in a water-filled foxhole and then
see one of his cartoons."
"Th' hell this ain't th' most important hole in the world. I'm in it."
Mauldin is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Last month,
the kid cartoonist made it onto a first-class postage stamp. It's an
honor that most generals and admirals never receive.
What Mauldin would have loved most, I believe, is the sight of
the two guys who are keeping him company on that stamp.
Take a look at it.
There's Willie. There's Joe.
And there, to the side, drawing them and smiling that shy,
quietly observant smile, is Mauldin himself. With his buddies, right
where he belongs. Forever.
--
Jack P.
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/07/greene.mauldin.stamp/index.html
My younger son, Jeff, a Grandview Heights teacher and a Dublin Jerome football assistant coach, coaches those dumb old linemen which you once were, has taken an interest in WWII and the people who served us. Gib always touted the linemen as the ones to make the team go even though the backs got all the press. I have Bill Maudlin's "Up Front" which I am giving him to read along with a couple of Ernie Pyle books.
Don't we know who America's heroes truly are! I was not up front with them, but for the will of God and Army orders, I might have been. I was in the battles of Tokyo during and after the Korean "police action' from 1953 trhrough 1954.
Sam
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jack H Plymale" jackh.plymale@gmail.com
To: ">" <@smtp109.sbc.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Bill Mauldin stamp honors grunts' hero.
The post office gets a lot of criticism. Always has, always will.
And with the renewed push to get rid of Saturday mail delivery,
expect complaints to intensify.
But the United States Postal Service deserves a standing ovation
for something that happened last month: Bill Mauldin got his own
postage stamp.
Mauldin died at age 81 in the early days of 2003. The end of his
life had been rugged. He had been scalded in a bathtub, which led to
terrible injuries and infections; Alzheimer's disease was inflicting
its cruelties. Unable to care for himself after the scalding, he
became a resident of aCalifornia nursing home, his health and spirits
in rapid decline.
He was not forgotten, though. Mauldin, and his work, meant so
much to the millions of Americans who fought in World War II, and to
those who had waited for them to come home. He was a kid cartoonist
for Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper; Mauldin's drawings of
his muddy, exhausted, whisker-stubbled infantrymen Willie and Joe
were the voice of truth about what it was like on the front lines.
Mauldin was an enlisted man just like the soldiers he drew for;
his gripes were their gripes, his laughs were their laughs, his
heartaches were their heartaches. He was one of them. They loved him.
He never held back. Sometimes, when his cartoons cut too close
for comfort, his superior officers tried to tone him down. In one
memorable incident, he enraged Gen. George S. Patton, and Patton
informed Mauldin he wanted the pointed cartoons -- celebrating the
fighting men, lampooning the high-ranking officers -- to stop. Now.
"I'm beginning to feel like a fugative from th' law of averages."
The news passed from soldier to soldier. How was Sgt. Bill
Mauldin going to stand up to Gen. Patton? It seemed impossible.
Not quite. Mauldin, it turned out, had an ardent fan: Five-star
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in
Europe . Ike put out the word: Mauldin draws what Mauldin wants.
Mauldin won. Patton lost.
If, in your line of work, you've ever considered yourself a young
hotshot, or if you've ever known anyone who has felt that way about
himself or herself, the story of Mauldin's young manhood will humble
you. Here is what, by the time he was 23 years old, Mauldin had
accomplished:
"By the way, wot wuz them changes you wuz gonna make
when you took over last month, sir?"
He won the Pulitzer Prize. He was featured on the cover of Time
magazine. His book "Up Front" was the No. 1 best-seller in the United
States .
All of that at 23. Yet when he returned to civilian life and he
grew older, he never lost that boyish Mauldin grin, he never outgrew
his excitement about doing his job, he never big-shotted or
high-hatted the people with whom he worked every day.
I was lucky enough to be one of them; Mauldin roamed the hallways
of theChicago Sun-Times in the late 1960s and early 1970s with no
more officiousness or air of haughtiness than if he was a copyboy.
That impish look on his face remained.
He had achieved so much. He had won a second Pulitzer Prize, and
he should have won a third, for what may be the single greatest
editorial cartoon in the history of the craft: his deadline rendering,
on the day President John F. Ken nedy was assassinated, of the statue
at the Lincoln Memorial slumped in grief, its head cradled in its
hands. But he never acted as if he was better than the people he met.
He was still Mauldin the enlisted man.
During the late summer of 2002, as Mauldin lay in that California
nursing home, some of the old World War II infantry guys caught wind
of it. They didn't want Mauldin to go out that way. They thought he
should know that he was still their hero.
"This is th' town my pappy told me about."
Gordon Dillow, a columnist for the Orange County Register, put
out the call in Southern California for people in the area to send
their best wishes to Mauldin; I joined Dillow in the effort, helping
to spread the appeal nationally so that Bill would not feel so alone.
Soon more than 10,000 letters and cards had arrived at Mauldin's
bedside.
Even better than that, the old soldiers began to show up just to
sit with Mauldin, to let him know that they were there for him, as
he, long ago, had been there for them. So many volunteered to visit
Bill that there was a waiting list. Here is how Todd DePastino, in
the first paragraph of his wonderful biography of Mauldin, described
it:
"Almost every day in the summer and fall of 2002 they came to
Park Superior nursing home in Newport Beach , California , to honor
Army Sergeant, Technician Third Grade, Bill Mauldin. They came bearing
relics of their youth: medals, insignia, photographs, and carefully
folded newspaper clippings. Some wore old garrison caps. Others
arrived resplendent in uniforms over a half century old. Almost all
of them wept as they filed down the corridor like pilgrims fulfilling
some long-neglected obligation."
One of the veterans explained to me why it was so important:
"You would have to be part of a combat infantry unit to
appreciate what moments of relief Bill gave us. You had to be reading
a soaking wet Stars and Stripes in a water-filled foxhole and then
see one of his cartoons."
"Th' hell this ain't th' most important hole in the world. I'm in it."
Mauldin is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Last month,
the kid cartoonist made it onto a first-class postage stamp. It's an
honor that most generals and admirals never receive.
What Mauldin would have loved most, I believe, is the sight of
the two guys who are keeping him company on that stamp.
Take a look at it.
There's Willie. There's Joe.
And there, to the side, drawing them and smiling that shy,
quietly observant smile, is Mauldin himself. With his buddies, right
where he belongs. Forever.
--
Jack P.
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
P-Town story addition from Clay Vice
I remember much of this story from you, Clay. I didn't know of the grocery store. Dick Anderson was an excellent athlete of Portsmouth's and Ohio State's and a good friend of Flip Spriggs.
Good health, good friend, to you and Carol! Mr. Plymale will enjoy this story!
Sam
----- Original Message -----
From: Clay Vice
To: Sam "Kat " Kegley
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 07:51
Subject: Fw:
HEY SAM, IN 1953 & 54 DON MONK GOT ME ON A BASKETBALL TEAM. IT WAS KAY JEWELERS AND DON HORTON AND RICH RECTOR WERE THE COACHES. ON THIS TEAM WAS BERT BARNY, BOB KIMBLE, GEORGE HILL, DON MONK, D.E. NEWMAN, FRED SCHUMATE, JACK HORTON, BOB BRONSON " FOOTBALL COACH AT PORTSMOUTH", FRED BRANDENBURG, WHO WAS A PHS SR. FRED GOT KICKED OF OF THE TROJANS THAT YEAR, DICK ANDERSON AND LITTLE OLE ME. FRED AND I WERE THE STARTING GUARDS. WE WON EVERY THING THAT YEAR EXCEPT THE STATE. THIS WAS IN THE Y.M.C.A. LEAGUE. WE WENT TO ZANESVILLE TO PLAY IN THE STATE AND FRED AND I WERE THE ONLY SET OF GUARDS THAT MADE THE TRIP AND WE HAD TO PLAY 3 GAMES THAT DAY AND GOT BEAT IN THE FINALS BY ZANESVILLE. ZANESVILLE DREW A BYE AND THEN WON THE SECOND GAME BY FORFEIT. WHAT A COINCIDENCE! AFTER WE GOT BEAT DICK ANDERSON TORE UP THE LOCKER ROOM AND THE Y.M.C.A. CALLED THIE POLICE AND THEY ESCORTED US OUT OF TOWN, WE WERE LUCKY THEY DIDN'T LOCK US UP. DON HORTON WAS THE OLDEST, NEXT WAS JACK AND THEN BOBBIE. THEIR MOTHER RAN A GROCERY STORE DOWN ON 12TH STREET AND I WORKED IN IT FOR A MONTH THAT WINTER WHEN I WAS LAID OFF FROM WORK, BUT I DIDN'T LIKE IT VERY MUCH AND QUIT.
CLAY VICE
Good health, good friend, to you and Carol! Mr. Plymale will enjoy this story!
Sam
----- Original Message -----
From: Clay Vice
To: Sam "Kat " Kegley
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 07:51
Subject: Fw:
HEY SAM, IN 1953 & 54 DON MONK GOT ME ON A BASKETBALL TEAM. IT WAS KAY JEWELERS AND DON HORTON AND RICH RECTOR WERE THE COACHES. ON THIS TEAM WAS BERT BARNY, BOB KIMBLE, GEORGE HILL, DON MONK, D.E. NEWMAN, FRED SCHUMATE, JACK HORTON, BOB BRONSON " FOOTBALL COACH AT PORTSMOUTH", FRED BRANDENBURG, WHO WAS A PHS SR. FRED GOT KICKED OF OF THE TROJANS THAT YEAR, DICK ANDERSON AND LITTLE OLE ME. FRED AND I WERE THE STARTING GUARDS. WE WON EVERY THING THAT YEAR EXCEPT THE STATE. THIS WAS IN THE Y.M.C.A. LEAGUE. WE WENT TO ZANESVILLE TO PLAY IN THE STATE AND FRED AND I WERE THE ONLY SET OF GUARDS THAT MADE THE TRIP AND WE HAD TO PLAY 3 GAMES THAT DAY AND GOT BEAT IN THE FINALS BY ZANESVILLE. ZANESVILLE DREW A BYE AND THEN WON THE SECOND GAME BY FORFEIT. WHAT A COINCIDENCE! AFTER WE GOT BEAT DICK ANDERSON TORE UP THE LOCKER ROOM AND THE Y.M.C.A. CALLED THIE POLICE AND THEY ESCORTED US OUT OF TOWN, WE WERE LUCKY THEY DIDN'T LOCK US UP. DON HORTON WAS THE OLDEST, NEXT WAS JACK AND THEN BOBBIE. THEIR MOTHER RAN A GROCERY STORE DOWN ON 12TH STREET AND I WORKED IN IT FOR A MONTH THAT WINTER WHEN I WAS LAID OFF FROM WORK, BUT I DIDN'T LIKE IT VERY MUCH AND QUIT.
CLAY VICE
Portsmouth Ohio ( P-Town) memories from Jack Plymale
I have a new book, SamKat Blog 2008, which I sent discriminately and freely to a few intimate friends of Jeanie's and mine. I wanted Jack Plymale, mutual friend Gib Lakeman's Trojan cohort, to receive it early on particularly for Doc Yeagle's copy. There was also a copy for Jim Fout- p53 of my Excellenc in Athletics book. Doc is criticlly ill now with cancer. Jack's and Doc's interview stories are in the new book. Also Dave Leightenheimer's interview story is in the new book. Jack responded with a few "Plymales Nuggets" of our fair city. Jack's stories are to be savored and enjoyed. Thanks Mr. Plymale!
Great P-Town memories again, Mr. Plymale!
----- Original Message -----
From: Jack H Plymale
To: Sam Kegley
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 19:12
Sam, Received your books today and first blush is delightful. Docs condition grows more grave daily. Thankfully not a lot of pain yet, but all his medicine probably causes him to lose a little more of his mental edge. Not serious yet, but it is beginning to be noticeable. I'll get Jim's off to him as soon as I am able. Let me know what kind of costs you have incurred. I've leafed though and am glad we are of the same political bend. There is one difference. I have little hope for our survival given our national willingness to be destroyed and the collective indifference of the electorate.
On the sports side. One sports sequence( Portsmouth) we have never discussed was the national champion American Legion basketball team. Right after the war. Don Monk, Joe Luchi. Rocky Nelson. Del Rice and Jack Horton. These guys won it. I forgot the subs. Jack only played basketball at PHS, but was generally conceded to be the best fisticuffer(Sp,) in town. Very taciturn but really a nice guy. Married one of my favorite people in Portsmouth. Ramona Newman, homecoming queen 1943.
By the way. I handled the baseball training program for the chamber of commerce in Ft. Pierce,Fla. when the Toronto Maple leafs trained there and Rocky was on his way down then and played 1st for them. He still knocked the cover off the ball. Just less often with worse pitching. I doubt any first baseman ever played better defense than he did.
All this for bagging purposes. By the way, you might have been in school with Jack's brother Bobby. Nobody wanted any of him either. I think he was killed in a car wreck. Jack p.
Jack P.
Mr. Plymale,
You aid my weak memories so well, friend.
I didn't know the Legion basketball team won a national championship. I knew they beat the best semi-pro teams who visited Portsmouth, Ohio in those days. Carrol Hawhee from Waverly was a tall, lanky fellow, who sank the long two handed set shots better for the Legion team, than anybody I recall.
Taciturn- unusually quiet and non-communicative- is a great word for Jack Horton, but I didn't remember him playing basketball. I think Bobby Horton, a brother, was on the legion team with those guys with Wayne Widdig, a memorable athlete for any area of the country. Wayne, as you well know, was P-Town's greatest fast pitch softball pitcher, who later pitched for the Bell Helicopter teams of the Bufalo, New York area (here again, my memory slipped but I picked up a copy of my Softball book and went to Bill Newman's interview story -P197) to get the name of Bell. As a Mound Park Urchin, I walked down to many Grant Gym games of that team and watched them put the beatings on the best traveling teams of the day. Mick Kornhoff, whose dad Ray coached them, gave me great nuggets on Wayne's experiences in Mick's interview in the same book (p 168). Wayne had an amazingly successful turn around underhand layup, not dissimilar to the underhand foul shots of ex-NBA pro, Rick Berry.
Jack, you are much older and wiser, but Bobby Horton was even one or two years older than me. I always heard that the Horton's grew up in the vicinity of the 14th Street Community boys and had to handle their fists at an early age to be 'racially accepted'. In my interview story with Earl "Smokey" Gibson" (Excellence in Athletics in the Portsmouth Area- p82) my good friend, Ronnie Walters , told a story of Jack Horton crediting Smokey Gibson with being one of the best Portsmouth 'street-fighters' of his day. That is high praise from a good-looking, quiet man such as Jack Horton. I also remember Ramona as a world class beauty. P-Town had a lot of those type beauties. Ray Benner, just a year older than me, was a street fighter of Portsmouth and Mound Park reknown, and Don Thomas, Dave's younger brother my age, had the long muscles of Abraham Lincoln and was no person to rile up into a fight. I had a few fights but not in the class of the brawlers mentioned here. The street fighting sport is world universal and on America's streets as well. You, no doubt, participated in a famed service-men saloon brawl of the WWII guys all over. Our day's movies staged a few of those. There may have been a few rivalry incidents but Americans were always proud of our 'fighting men' who allegedly weren't often sober at those times, and we were so glad they were on our side.
Jack, you still pack a powerful punch with your quick stories and I and my friend, Clay Vice, probably enjoy them more than anybody.
Sam
Great P-Town memories again, Mr. Plymale!
----- Original Message -----
From: Jack H Plymale
To: Sam Kegley
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 19:12
Sam, Received your books today and first blush is delightful. Docs condition grows more grave daily. Thankfully not a lot of pain yet, but all his medicine probably causes him to lose a little more of his mental edge. Not serious yet, but it is beginning to be noticeable. I'll get Jim's off to him as soon as I am able. Let me know what kind of costs you have incurred. I've leafed though and am glad we are of the same political bend. There is one difference. I have little hope for our survival given our national willingness to be destroyed and the collective indifference of the electorate.
On the sports side. One sports sequence( Portsmouth) we have never discussed was the national champion American Legion basketball team. Right after the war. Don Monk, Joe Luchi. Rocky Nelson. Del Rice and Jack Horton. These guys won it. I forgot the subs. Jack only played basketball at PHS, but was generally conceded to be the best fisticuffer(Sp,) in town. Very taciturn but really a nice guy. Married one of my favorite people in Portsmouth. Ramona Newman, homecoming queen 1943.
By the way. I handled the baseball training program for the chamber of commerce in Ft. Pierce,Fla. when the Toronto Maple leafs trained there and Rocky was on his way down then and played 1st for them. He still knocked the cover off the ball. Just less often with worse pitching. I doubt any first baseman ever played better defense than he did.
All this for bagging purposes. By the way, you might have been in school with Jack's brother Bobby. Nobody wanted any of him either. I think he was killed in a car wreck. Jack p.
Jack P.
Mr. Plymale,
You aid my weak memories so well, friend.
I didn't know the Legion basketball team won a national championship. I knew they beat the best semi-pro teams who visited Portsmouth, Ohio in those days. Carrol Hawhee from Waverly was a tall, lanky fellow, who sank the long two handed set shots better for the Legion team, than anybody I recall.
Taciturn- unusually quiet and non-communicative- is a great word for Jack Horton, but I didn't remember him playing basketball. I think Bobby Horton, a brother, was on the legion team with those guys with Wayne Widdig, a memorable athlete for any area of the country. Wayne, as you well know, was P-Town's greatest fast pitch softball pitcher, who later pitched for the Bell Helicopter teams of the Bufalo, New York area (here again, my memory slipped but I picked up a copy of my Softball book and went to Bill Newman's interview story -P197) to get the name of Bell. As a Mound Park Urchin, I walked down to many Grant Gym games of that team and watched them put the beatings on the best traveling teams of the day. Mick Kornhoff, whose dad Ray coached them, gave me great nuggets on Wayne's experiences in Mick's interview in the same book (p 168). Wayne had an amazingly successful turn around underhand layup, not dissimilar to the underhand foul shots of ex-NBA pro, Rick Berry.
Jack, you are much older and wiser, but Bobby Horton was even one or two years older than me. I always heard that the Horton's grew up in the vicinity of the 14th Street Community boys and had to handle their fists at an early age to be 'racially accepted'. In my interview story with Earl "Smokey" Gibson" (Excellence in Athletics in the Portsmouth Area- p82) my good friend, Ronnie Walters , told a story of Jack Horton crediting Smokey Gibson with being one of the best Portsmouth 'street-fighters' of his day. That is high praise from a good-looking, quiet man such as Jack Horton. I also remember Ramona as a world class beauty. P-Town had a lot of those type beauties. Ray Benner, just a year older than me, was a street fighter of Portsmouth and Mound Park reknown, and Don Thomas, Dave's younger brother my age, had the long muscles of Abraham Lincoln and was no person to rile up into a fight. I had a few fights but not in the class of the brawlers mentioned here. The street fighting sport is world universal and on America's streets as well. You, no doubt, participated in a famed service-men saloon brawl of the WWII guys all over. Our day's movies staged a few of those. There may have been a few rivalry incidents but Americans were always proud of our 'fighting men' who allegedly weren't often sober at those times, and we were so glad they were on our side.
Jack, you still pack a powerful punch with your quick stories and I and my friend, Clay Vice, probably enjoy them more than anybody.
Sam
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thanks Patti Fannin! Patriotism
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Pat Fannin
To: Sam Kegley
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 6:16:09 AM
Subject: FW: Let's get this circulating by July 4th
I HOPE THERE ISN'T ANYONE ON MY E-MAIL LIST THAT WON'T KEEP THIS GOING.
Happy 4th of
July!....
.....let' s get this started now,
So it will be out there on the fourth!!!!
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE
FLAG, OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ,
AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR
WHICH IT STANDS,
ONE NATION UNDER GOD,
INDIVISIBLE, WITH
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!
KEEP IT LIT!
[cid:3.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
KEEP IT LIT!
For
All of our other military personnel, where ever they may be
Please
Support all of the troops defending our Country.
[cid:4.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
And God
Bless our Military who are protecting our Country for our
Freedom.
Thanks
To them, and their sacrifices we can celebrate the 4th of July
[cid:5.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
We must never forget who
Gets the credit for the freedoms we have, of which we should be
Eternally grateful..
[cid:6.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:7.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:8.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:9.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
I watched the flag
Pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
[cid:10.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
A young Marine
Saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..
I looked at
Him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square
And eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
[cid:11.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
I thought how many men
Like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign
Soil
How many mothers' tears?
[cid:12.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
How many pilots' planes
Shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers'
Graves ?
No, freedom isn't free
I heard the sound of Taps
One night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler
Play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant 'Amen,'
[cid:13.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
When a flag had draped a
Coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.
[cid:14.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:15.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
I thought of all the
Children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and
Husbands
With interrupted lives.
I
Thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
[cid:16.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
Of unmarked graves in
Arlington .
No, freedom isn't free.
[cid:17.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
Enjoy Your Freedom
&God Bless Our Troops
When
You receive this, please stop for a moment
And
Say a
Prayer for our servicemen.
Of all the gifts you could give
A US Soldier, Prayer is the very best
One.
From: Pat Fannin
To: Sam Kegley
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 6:16:09 AM
Subject: FW: Let's get this circulating by July 4th
I HOPE THERE ISN'T ANYONE ON MY E-MAIL LIST THAT WON'T KEEP THIS GOING.
Happy 4th of
July!....
.....let' s get this started now,
So it will be out there on the fourth!!!!
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE
FLAG, OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ,
AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR
WHICH IT STANDS,
ONE NATION UNDER GOD,
INDIVISIBLE, WITH
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!
KEEP IT LIT!
[cid:3.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
KEEP IT LIT!
For
All of our other military personnel, where ever they may be
Please
Support all of the troops defending our Country.
[cid:4.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
And God
Bless our Military who are protecting our Country for our
Freedom.
Thanks
To them, and their sacrifices we can celebrate the 4th of July
[cid:5.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
We must never forget who
Gets the credit for the freedoms we have, of which we should be
Eternally grateful..
[cid:6.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:7.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:8.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:9.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
I watched the flag
Pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
[cid:10.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
A young Marine
Saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..
I looked at
Him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square
And eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
[cid:11.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
I thought how many men
Like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign
Soil
How many mothers' tears?
[cid:12.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
How many pilots' planes
Shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers'
Graves ?
No, freedom isn't free
I heard the sound of Taps
One night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler
Play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant 'Amen,'
[cid:13.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
When a flag had draped a
Coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.
[cid:14.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com][cid:15.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
I thought of all the
Children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and
Husbands
With interrupted lives.
I
Thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
[cid:16.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
Of unmarked graves in
Arlington .
No, freedom isn't free.
[cid:17.134595063@web52305.mail.re2.yahoo.com]
Enjoy Your Freedom
&God Bless Our Troops
When
You receive this, please stop for a moment
And
Say a
Prayer for our servicemen.
Of all the gifts you could give
A US Soldier, Prayer is the very best
One.
From: www.silkroadsandsiamesesmiles.com-Women in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, burqa, chidari, girls, women
Under the thumb of Islam — Women in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, culture on April 5, 2008 at 6:19 am
Afghanistan. Infamous for the Burqa or Chidori. It’s the land that the Taliban made famous by oppressing women. The famous scene of the woman being shot with an AK-47 by a cold and heartless talib. The women here are a mystery to me. I’ve met a couple. One who spoke almost no English. One who had lived in exile with her family in London and returned briefly to live with her Aunt and Uncle.
Walking around Kabul, you see Afghani women covered from head to toe in the burqa or chidari. You’ll see women covering themselves with the hijab. Occasionally, you see Afghan women who go uncovered in public. It’s rare. Usually she will be from a family who had spent time outside of Afghanistan during the past 30 years of war. Families who have adopted a Western and liberal attitude.
What I find ludicrous about the whole hijab, burqa, chidori tradition is that it is in no way a choice of the woman. If you ask an Afghani male, he will usually tell you that she is wearing it because of her family or her husband. “If you have a beautiful wife and you don’t want other men looking at her, you tell her to cover herself.” “Her family is traditional so they tell her to cover herself.” Men in Afghanistan think that it is a stain upon their honor if other men look at their wives. Somehow that blame is transferred to the women. It is their fault that men find them attractive. Therefore, the women must cover themselves.
The Arab Islamic attitude with which I have become acquainted is even more weak of mind and spirit. If a woman is raped, it is her fault because she put herself in that situation. She put herself in that situation because she allowed herself to be alone with a man not of her family. It’s her fault because she went uncovered. It’s her fault because she wore tight, form fitting clothing as opposed to the loose clothing prescribed by Allah and Muhammad. The man shares no blame even though he committed the heinous act. It’s not the man’s fault that he raped her. He couldn’t help himself because he was overcome with lust. His weakness is forgiven. Tolerated. Excused. In my opinion, that weakness of spirit is encouraged in the Arab Islamic tradition. We are to believe that Muslim men have no more control over their lust than toddlers have over their bowel movements? This attitude towards women spreads with Islam. In Islam, women are objects to be controlled, owned, traded, bartered for and sold away. Mere property at the whim and mercy of men. Yet, we are told that women have rights in Islam.
In accordance with Islamic sharee’ah, women who are raped must have four male witnesses. If these four witnesses are not forthcoming and the woman admits that she is raped, she is guilty of adultery. Punishable by death. If she is not put to death then she is exiled from family and community.
This is Islamic Justice!
An interesting story illustrates the attitudes of Islamic men towards women. I was driving around Kabul with an Afghani. As usual, I was taking pictures. Each time I took a picture of a woman, he would get upset and grunt or in some way express his disapproval to me indirectly. Finally, I asked him what the problem was. He told me that I should not be taking pictures of women. His real problem was that I was taking pictures of Afghani women. Islamic women. Yet this same man carries around a phone with a gigabyte of hardcore porn which he will show you in the manner of a bragging adolescent. I mean hardcore as in animals and women. I told him that he was a hypocrite. I offered a deal. I would stop taking pictures of Afghan women if he would erase all of his porn. Of course, he balked. I told him to shut up and drive. lol
Another ludicrous example of the traditions here and elsewhere in the world of Islam. I met a young woman who had lived most of her life in Switzerland. She had gone to all western schools from grade school through University. Her family moved back to Afghanistan a couple of years ago. They spent most of their family money in the process of returning. This girl is quite beautiful. So her father used her beauty to form a business partnership. She is to be married to a man in his 60s. She will be his second wife. Expected to give him the son that his first wife had yet to produce. She has a degree in mathematics that will be for naught as her husband to be is a traditionalist. She will be required to wear a chidari and will not be allowed to leave the house much less hold a job. Once she stepped back inside the world of Islam, she became property. She has no choice in this matter. No say.
This is the world of Islam. The justice that Islam affords women.
These are Islams victims. Future and present.
NGO volunteers from London pose with their students in Kabul.
As mysterious as she is beautiful.
Hijab, Chidari, Burqa … the arrogance and folly of Islamic men. Why would you cause to be hidden such beauty.
▶ 9 Responses
I THINK ENLIGHTENING AND RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS IS ALWAYS THE NOBLE WAY.
IT HASN’T BEEN LONG AGO THAT WOMEN WERE PROPERTY OF THEIR HUSBANDS IN THE US. THEY WEREN’T ALLOWED TO VOTE OR OWN PROPERTY.
I AM NOT CLEAR ON THIS STATEMENT: THEY COULD BE BEATEN AS LONG AS THE STICK WAS THE APPROPRIATE LENGTH AND THICKNESS. THIS MAY HAVE
ONLY BEEN THE LAW IN ENGLAND. HOWEVER, CLOSE ENOUGH. IF A WIFE WAS TOO OUT OF SORTS SHE WOULD BE PUT AWAY IN AN ASYLUM OR WHATEVER. HOPEFULLY, THINGS WILL EVENTUALLY CHANGE IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD.
THEY ARE STILL CHANGING HERE. A LITTLE HISTORY OF CHANGE.
THIS IS FROM A 1978 SOCIOLOGY BOOK.
WOMEN
IN 1944, THE SWEDISH ECONOMIST, GUNNAR MYRDAL, IN “AN AMERICAN DILEMMA”, DREW A PARALLEL BETWEEN THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION OF BLACKS AND WOMEN. HE CONTENDED THAT AMERICAN BLACKS AND WOMEN ARE VICTIMS OF A PATERNALISTICALLY DOMINATED SOCIETY AND QUOTES FROM GEORGE FITZHUGH’S SOCIOLOGY FOR THE SOUTH TO ILLUSTRATE HIS POINT:
“A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE AND ILLUSTRATION……IS FOUND IN THE INSTANCE OF THE PATRIARCH ABRAHAM. HIS WIVES AND HIS CHILDREN, HIS MEN SERVANTS AND HIS MAID SERVANTS, HIS CAMELS AND HIS CATTLE, WERE ALL EQUALLY HIS PROPERTY. HE COULD SACRIFICE ISAAC OR A RAM JUST AS HE PLEASED. HE LOVED AND PROTECTED ALL, AND ALL SHARED, IF NOT EQUALLY, AT LEAST FAIRLY, IN THE PRODUCTS OF THEIR LIGHT LABOUR. WHO WOULD NOT DESIRE TO HAVE BEEN A SLAVE OF THAT OLD PATRIARCH, STERN AND DESPOTIC AS HE WAS?…….PRIDE, AFFECTION, SELF-INTEREST MOVED ABRAHAM TO PROTECT, LOVE, AND TAKE CARE OF HIS SLAVES. THE SAME MOTIVES OPERATE ON ALL MASTERS AND SECURE COMFORT, COMPETENCY, AND PROTECTION TO THE SLAVE. A MAN’S WIFE AND CHILDREN ARE HIS SLAVES, AND DO THEY NOT ENJOY, IN COMMON WITH HIMSELF, HIS PROPERTY.”
THE BOOK, SOCIAL PROBLEMS, GOES ON TO STATE: ” THIS LEGACY STILL INFLUENCES THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN WOMEN LIVE.”
THANKS FOR THE FORUM DAVID.
Reply
Mildred 5 April 2008 at 7am
there are no words that can describe the disgust that you feel when you read these ways women are being treated all in the name of their religion. as usual men are in control of these women and it is truly sad that they cant do anything about it. it was like that with Christianity as well in the past. men were to rule over women and control them. they were property of the men, as well as the children. the law wouldn’t interfere with any abuse of the women or children because they were seen as the mans property. there are diaries of women who were caught up in this as soon as the late 1800′s. there are even diaries of men who knew things were wrong with families they knew but wrote how they couldnt do anything because it was nt there place and it was legal because the children and women were the mans to do with what he wants to. it wasnt that long ago we were in the similar situation. we had a little more rights than the afgan women. hopefully if people are more aware by reading these reports of the abuse people will start to try and stop it.
Reply
Ginger 5 April 2008 at 7am
http://www.islamfortoday.com/ummzaid06.htm
Reply
Jihadi 5 April 2008 at 7am
SOMEBODY PLEASE PULL THE TRIGGER. LETS GET IT OVER WITH!
Reply
JR 6 April 2008 at 2am
Dave, I am quite taken by some of these photos, would you mind if I use some of these for my paintings? I am currently working on a rather large painting presently that holds 7 young women with children (they’re own? the ‘women’ are pratically children themselves). Your words ring true, the failings of that religion, anything that subjugates one humanbeing beneath another cannot be devine, not of God, but of man, and therefore flawed, such is religion.
Reply
Janie G 7 April 2008 at 12pm
Janie, you can use any of these photos. The images don’t belong to me. The belong to the women themselves. I’ve just borrowed them.
It’d be cool to see some of them in your paintings.
Dave
Reply
alphaheretic 7 April 2008 at 1pm
This article is nonsense. While it may be that the Muslim women of Afghanistan are oppressed by their ignorant men folk, this is not a true representation of Islam at all. No where in the quran does Allah/God endorse such harsh and barbaric treatment of women. Allah is just, merciful, full of pity and compassionate. Women are given a noble status in the quran. The shariah does not sanction stoning in fact the only reference in the quran to stoning is when its used as a threat by the ‘PAGANS’ against prophets and messengers. I converted to islam from Christianity and i have never experienced such spiritual beauty and peace in my life. Stop spreding lies about Islam and get the facts not some twisted taliban version.
Reply
maria 26 September 2008 at 7am
Maria,
I agree with you that Islam as individual spirituality can be a beautiful and uplifting experience. The sad fact is that Islam, like Christianity before it, is used to oppress others. The why of it matters very little. Look around you. Look at the world. Where in the world where Islam is strong is it not oppressive.
If Islam is law, women are not given the choice of how to present themselves. And even where Islam is not law, the men of Islam use the religion to oppress women.
It was the same with Christianity.
A woman who walks around uncovered is called all manner of names in the lands of Islam. Often times, it goes beyond mere names to physical assault.
A religion is only what it’s people makes of it. Nothing more. Nothing less. Islam has been made a cruel mockery of beauty.
Do you live in America?
Try living Islam in Iran. Iraq. Syria, Egypt. Dubai. Kuwait. Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan. Pakistan. India. See how free and beautiful you feel then.
This is the representation of Islam on planet Earth. Perhaps, the Quran meant it differently. Perhaps, God and Mohammad (PBUH) meant it differently. And Perhaps George Bush meant to be a better President.
Last time I saw, Allah wasn’t stopping any of the violence or ignorance in the Muslim world.
Maybe it’s just me.
Stoning might not be in the Qu’ran. Fact is. This form of punishment is used in the Muslim world. You’re getting your beautiful book confused with the reality on the ground.
I have visited or lived in almost every Muslim country out there. Universally, the Muslim world treats women as 2nd class citizens. Doesn’t much matter what the Quran says when men twist it to their ends. Now does it.
I challenge you. Go live in Iran or Iraq. Go live in Syria. Even Egypt. Egypt is the most tolerant of Muslim nations in the Arab crescent. Live there. See how free and noble you feel.
Reply
alphaheretic 26 September 2008 at 9am
I am not innocent of being jealous of a beautiful wife, Dave, Yes I am a Christian. I am like Christ except that I am far from perfect. Shariah law, as I understand it, is as you describe.
From early schooling here in America, it is far too evident that women can think and do many of the things men can, as well as or better.
I am happy that God made men and women of different characteristics. In His way, God has blessed us all and there will be a better hereafter.
Thanks for your efforts here on earth!
Reply
SamKat 10 June 2010 at 5pm
Click here to cancel reply.
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Under the thumb of Islam — Women in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, culture on April 5, 2008 at 6:19 am
Afghanistan. Infamous for the Burqa or Chidori. It’s the land that the Taliban made famous by oppressing women. The famous scene of the woman being shot with an AK-47 by a cold and heartless talib. The women here are a mystery to me. I’ve met a couple. One who spoke almost no English. One who had lived in exile with her family in London and returned briefly to live with her Aunt and Uncle.
Walking around Kabul, you see Afghani women covered from head to toe in the burqa or chidari. You’ll see women covering themselves with the hijab. Occasionally, you see Afghan women who go uncovered in public. It’s rare. Usually she will be from a family who had spent time outside of Afghanistan during the past 30 years of war. Families who have adopted a Western and liberal attitude.
What I find ludicrous about the whole hijab, burqa, chidori tradition is that it is in no way a choice of the woman. If you ask an Afghani male, he will usually tell you that she is wearing it because of her family or her husband. “If you have a beautiful wife and you don’t want other men looking at her, you tell her to cover herself.” “Her family is traditional so they tell her to cover herself.” Men in Afghanistan think that it is a stain upon their honor if other men look at their wives. Somehow that blame is transferred to the women. It is their fault that men find them attractive. Therefore, the women must cover themselves.
The Arab Islamic attitude with which I have become acquainted is even more weak of mind and spirit. If a woman is raped, it is her fault because she put herself in that situation. She put herself in that situation because she allowed herself to be alone with a man not of her family. It’s her fault because she went uncovered. It’s her fault because she wore tight, form fitting clothing as opposed to the loose clothing prescribed by Allah and Muhammad. The man shares no blame even though he committed the heinous act. It’s not the man’s fault that he raped her. He couldn’t help himself because he was overcome with lust. His weakness is forgiven. Tolerated. Excused. In my opinion, that weakness of spirit is encouraged in the Arab Islamic tradition. We are to believe that Muslim men have no more control over their lust than toddlers have over their bowel movements? This attitude towards women spreads with Islam. In Islam, women are objects to be controlled, owned, traded, bartered for and sold away. Mere property at the whim and mercy of men. Yet, we are told that women have rights in Islam.
In accordance with Islamic sharee’ah, women who are raped must have four male witnesses. If these four witnesses are not forthcoming and the woman admits that she is raped, she is guilty of adultery. Punishable by death. If she is not put to death then she is exiled from family and community.
This is Islamic Justice!
An interesting story illustrates the attitudes of Islamic men towards women. I was driving around Kabul with an Afghani. As usual, I was taking pictures. Each time I took a picture of a woman, he would get upset and grunt or in some way express his disapproval to me indirectly. Finally, I asked him what the problem was. He told me that I should not be taking pictures of women. His real problem was that I was taking pictures of Afghani women. Islamic women. Yet this same man carries around a phone with a gigabyte of hardcore porn which he will show you in the manner of a bragging adolescent. I mean hardcore as in animals and women. I told him that he was a hypocrite. I offered a deal. I would stop taking pictures of Afghan women if he would erase all of his porn. Of course, he balked. I told him to shut up and drive. lol
Another ludicrous example of the traditions here and elsewhere in the world of Islam. I met a young woman who had lived most of her life in Switzerland. She had gone to all western schools from grade school through University. Her family moved back to Afghanistan a couple of years ago. They spent most of their family money in the process of returning. This girl is quite beautiful. So her father used her beauty to form a business partnership. She is to be married to a man in his 60s. She will be his second wife. Expected to give him the son that his first wife had yet to produce. She has a degree in mathematics that will be for naught as her husband to be is a traditionalist. She will be required to wear a chidari and will not be allowed to leave the house much less hold a job. Once she stepped back inside the world of Islam, she became property. She has no choice in this matter. No say.
This is the world of Islam. The justice that Islam affords women.
These are Islams victims. Future and present.
NGO volunteers from London pose with their students in Kabul.
As mysterious as she is beautiful.
Hijab, Chidari, Burqa … the arrogance and folly of Islamic men. Why would you cause to be hidden such beauty.
▶ 9 Responses
I THINK ENLIGHTENING AND RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS IS ALWAYS THE NOBLE WAY.
IT HASN’T BEEN LONG AGO THAT WOMEN WERE PROPERTY OF THEIR HUSBANDS IN THE US. THEY WEREN’T ALLOWED TO VOTE OR OWN PROPERTY.
I AM NOT CLEAR ON THIS STATEMENT: THEY COULD BE BEATEN AS LONG AS THE STICK WAS THE APPROPRIATE LENGTH AND THICKNESS. THIS MAY HAVE
ONLY BEEN THE LAW IN ENGLAND. HOWEVER, CLOSE ENOUGH. IF A WIFE WAS TOO OUT OF SORTS SHE WOULD BE PUT AWAY IN AN ASYLUM OR WHATEVER. HOPEFULLY, THINGS WILL EVENTUALLY CHANGE IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD.
THEY ARE STILL CHANGING HERE. A LITTLE HISTORY OF CHANGE.
THIS IS FROM A 1978 SOCIOLOGY BOOK.
WOMEN
IN 1944, THE SWEDISH ECONOMIST, GUNNAR MYRDAL, IN “AN AMERICAN DILEMMA”, DREW A PARALLEL BETWEEN THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION OF BLACKS AND WOMEN. HE CONTENDED THAT AMERICAN BLACKS AND WOMEN ARE VICTIMS OF A PATERNALISTICALLY DOMINATED SOCIETY AND QUOTES FROM GEORGE FITZHUGH’S SOCIOLOGY FOR THE SOUTH TO ILLUSTRATE HIS POINT:
“A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE AND ILLUSTRATION……IS FOUND IN THE INSTANCE OF THE PATRIARCH ABRAHAM. HIS WIVES AND HIS CHILDREN, HIS MEN SERVANTS AND HIS MAID SERVANTS, HIS CAMELS AND HIS CATTLE, WERE ALL EQUALLY HIS PROPERTY. HE COULD SACRIFICE ISAAC OR A RAM JUST AS HE PLEASED. HE LOVED AND PROTECTED ALL, AND ALL SHARED, IF NOT EQUALLY, AT LEAST FAIRLY, IN THE PRODUCTS OF THEIR LIGHT LABOUR. WHO WOULD NOT DESIRE TO HAVE BEEN A SLAVE OF THAT OLD PATRIARCH, STERN AND DESPOTIC AS HE WAS?…….PRIDE, AFFECTION, SELF-INTEREST MOVED ABRAHAM TO PROTECT, LOVE, AND TAKE CARE OF HIS SLAVES. THE SAME MOTIVES OPERATE ON ALL MASTERS AND SECURE COMFORT, COMPETENCY, AND PROTECTION TO THE SLAVE. A MAN’S WIFE AND CHILDREN ARE HIS SLAVES, AND DO THEY NOT ENJOY, IN COMMON WITH HIMSELF, HIS PROPERTY.”
THE BOOK, SOCIAL PROBLEMS, GOES ON TO STATE: ” THIS LEGACY STILL INFLUENCES THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN WOMEN LIVE.”
THANKS FOR THE FORUM DAVID.
Reply
Mildred 5 April 2008 at 7am
there are no words that can describe the disgust that you feel when you read these ways women are being treated all in the name of their religion. as usual men are in control of these women and it is truly sad that they cant do anything about it. it was like that with Christianity as well in the past. men were to rule over women and control them. they were property of the men, as well as the children. the law wouldn’t interfere with any abuse of the women or children because they were seen as the mans property. there are diaries of women who were caught up in this as soon as the late 1800′s. there are even diaries of men who knew things were wrong with families they knew but wrote how they couldnt do anything because it was nt there place and it was legal because the children and women were the mans to do with what he wants to. it wasnt that long ago we were in the similar situation. we had a little more rights than the afgan women. hopefully if people are more aware by reading these reports of the abuse people will start to try and stop it.
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Ginger 5 April 2008 at 7am
http://www.islamfortoday.com/ummzaid06.htm
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Jihadi 5 April 2008 at 7am
SOMEBODY PLEASE PULL THE TRIGGER. LETS GET IT OVER WITH!
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JR 6 April 2008 at 2am
Dave, I am quite taken by some of these photos, would you mind if I use some of these for my paintings? I am currently working on a rather large painting presently that holds 7 young women with children (they’re own? the ‘women’ are pratically children themselves). Your words ring true, the failings of that religion, anything that subjugates one humanbeing beneath another cannot be devine, not of God, but of man, and therefore flawed, such is religion.
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Janie G 7 April 2008 at 12pm
Janie, you can use any of these photos. The images don’t belong to me. The belong to the women themselves. I’ve just borrowed them.
It’d be cool to see some of them in your paintings.
Dave
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alphaheretic 7 April 2008 at 1pm
This article is nonsense. While it may be that the Muslim women of Afghanistan are oppressed by their ignorant men folk, this is not a true representation of Islam at all. No where in the quran does Allah/God endorse such harsh and barbaric treatment of women. Allah is just, merciful, full of pity and compassionate. Women are given a noble status in the quran. The shariah does not sanction stoning in fact the only reference in the quran to stoning is when its used as a threat by the ‘PAGANS’ against prophets and messengers. I converted to islam from Christianity and i have never experienced such spiritual beauty and peace in my life. Stop spreding lies about Islam and get the facts not some twisted taliban version.
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maria 26 September 2008 at 7am
Maria,
I agree with you that Islam as individual spirituality can be a beautiful and uplifting experience. The sad fact is that Islam, like Christianity before it, is used to oppress others. The why of it matters very little. Look around you. Look at the world. Where in the world where Islam is strong is it not oppressive.
If Islam is law, women are not given the choice of how to present themselves. And even where Islam is not law, the men of Islam use the religion to oppress women.
It was the same with Christianity.
A woman who walks around uncovered is called all manner of names in the lands of Islam. Often times, it goes beyond mere names to physical assault.
A religion is only what it’s people makes of it. Nothing more. Nothing less. Islam has been made a cruel mockery of beauty.
Do you live in America?
Try living Islam in Iran. Iraq. Syria, Egypt. Dubai. Kuwait. Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan. Pakistan. India. See how free and beautiful you feel then.
This is the representation of Islam on planet Earth. Perhaps, the Quran meant it differently. Perhaps, God and Mohammad (PBUH) meant it differently. And Perhaps George Bush meant to be a better President.
Last time I saw, Allah wasn’t stopping any of the violence or ignorance in the Muslim world.
Maybe it’s just me.
Stoning might not be in the Qu’ran. Fact is. This form of punishment is used in the Muslim world. You’re getting your beautiful book confused with the reality on the ground.
I have visited or lived in almost every Muslim country out there. Universally, the Muslim world treats women as 2nd class citizens. Doesn’t much matter what the Quran says when men twist it to their ends. Now does it.
I challenge you. Go live in Iran or Iraq. Go live in Syria. Even Egypt. Egypt is the most tolerant of Muslim nations in the Arab crescent. Live there. See how free and noble you feel.
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alphaheretic 26 September 2008 at 9am
I am not innocent of being jealous of a beautiful wife, Dave, Yes I am a Christian. I am like Christ except that I am far from perfect. Shariah law, as I understand it, is as you describe.
From early schooling here in America, it is far too evident that women can think and do many of the things men can, as well as or better.
I am happy that God made men and women of different characteristics. In His way, God has blessed us all and there will be a better hereafter.
Thanks for your efforts here on earth!
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SamKat 10 June 2010 at 5pm
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