Mood:
incredulousTopic: Life goes on...
So, like i get the bus pass (v. nice btw, need
to go down town to get a "handicapped" discount,
that way it will only be $15 per month; but still
the $40 as it is now is *still* way good).
And anyway, i tool on out (it's about to rain
cats and dogs) to UTD in my car. Not 13.173 seconds
onto campus, cop pulls me over. Not only does
he give me a ticket for the expired sticker ($135!!)
he reads me the riot act: "This is just a citation
to get this fixed, if you don't pay this within
7 days, it can be turned over to the Richardson
police, and if you don't pay it they can swear out
a warrant for your arrest!!" -- v. nasty (hate to
think this way, but the black cop *did* come
across like this is payback to whitey - little
did he know (laughs eviliy to self).
So, then on bhc the campus cop (new guy on the
beat pulls me over -- this time because the
PLASTIC reflector is broken!! And then notices
the expired sticker. I showed to him my newly
acquired insurance card ($104, thank you very much).
So, he gives me a WARNING thingie, and tells me
that i can be given a ticket for that. I explain
that it's not even a LIGHT, it's a piece of
totally useless plastic (you know Chevrolet,
they'd rather spend more time glueing gimicky
race-car-looking plastic to the back bumper,
than actually trying to improve the mileage!!!!)
So today (2005/07/21 -- exactly TWO WEEKS later)
from the first one, there's another bomb in
London. Sheesh,
what a fucked up world we live in!!!!!
The *only* good thing was our Amnesty Meeting,
Mauddi (who had worked with the U.N. before
gave a v. good talk on the various kinds of
muslims (which I will now share with you).
Suni (which means orthodox)
is split up into 5 groups (sub-groups)
Wahahbi -- the ones what's doing all the killing
Shubi ?sp? & Shafi ?sp? are the moderates
and the most liberal are the Sufi
And yes, what about the Shee-ites? They are
a v. weird group that ignored Mohamed's idea
that he was meerly a prophet, and they go by
the lineage of his grandson, and hence the
living decendent (who used to be King Hassin of
Jorden - a v. nice person, btw). That group
is mainly in Iran.
The Sufi's are the more secular, open-minded
types.
Anyway, in the 1850's or so this chap Mohamed
Wahab stirs up a *real* conservative, ultra-
religious group (which becomes the Wahabi group).
What is NOT news-cast is that these fanatics
kill MORE muslims than all other groups combined!
It seems, that (in case) one of the Wahabi's went
to a Mosque, and noticed that the congregation
was not EXACTLY facing Mecca when praying, this
person later returned and tossed in a bomb,
killing 16 people!
Oh, but it gets worse. It's the Wahabi sect (like
the Taliban) that enforces the most fanatical
INTERPRETATION of the Quoran. For example,
that all men not only have to wear a beard, but
that it must be a certain lenght long; if not
you are punished. (they have people who go
around and measure the beards, and if you're
lucky you just have to pay a fine).
Women are shit. They are not allowed out in public
without a man, they must wear the full-body
Burka (cloak -- can you imagine how hot that would
be in the summer?). If a woman is caught singing,
her tongue can be cut out. etc, etc. (We at Amnesty
were well aware of the atrocious way that women
were being treated in Afghanistan, but even i hadn't
heard of that!)
Music is banned, as are ANY pictures of even
animals; and portraits are right out. (Odd that
the family album would be a source of contnetion,
n'es pas?)
well, that's it for this time.
Anyway, finished "The London". Pretty stark. Just
a drip-drawing (using my well and true elmers
glue bottle) of the Parlement Buidling of England
(tips towel to Magna Carta -- the first true
beginning of democracy on planet earth -- even
the King/Chief is limited in his power) And of
course, on the right-hand side big ben, with
the hands of the clock oddly projecting, light
blue "wash" for the sky, and then in cursive
writting below:
London, 2005/07/07
21
(not signed)
-- peace to all,
and still (for no reason that is likely to become
clear) holding out hope for our much beleagured
world,
pizo.