Month: July 2009

A reader writes:

The stories you've been running about women in Iran are amazing.  I had a similar eye-opening experience a few months back when I first heard about a female race car driver named Laleh Seddigh.  She emerged during a relatively liberal period in Iran during the '90s and went on to compete not only against other women, but against men (and she won!)  Unfortunately, she was banned from racing a couple of years ago and I haven't been able to find any current information on her status.  But the two profiles below really capture a sense of a strong-willed, unstoppable personality, as well as the personality of her father, who clearly adores her.

From a 2005 NYT profile:

Ms. Seddigh loves speed. She also loves a challenge. Last fall, she petitioned the national auto racing federation in this male-dominated society for permission to compete against  men. When it was granted, she became not only the first woman in Iran to race cars  against the opposite sex, but also the first woman since the Islamic Revolution here to compete against men in any sport.

What's more, she beat them.

"I like competition in everything," the striking 28-year-old said after parking the car and going for tiramisù in a cafe in North Tehran. "I have to move whatever is movable in the world."

In March, she moved the nation when she won the national championship. State television refused to show the new champ on the victory dais elevated above the men, but  photographers captured the moment. She stood quietly while receiving her medal, as she had promised the race organizers she would, with a scarf over her long black hair and a coat over her racing uniform.

A 2007 Guardian profile addressed her dubious ban from the sport.

A mind-blowingly charming music video by the Japanese band Sour:

SOUR / 日々の音色 (Hibi no Neiro) MV from Magico Nakamura on Vimeo.

Andy McCarthy is using the Uighur uprising in China to “prove” that the Gitmo Uighurs were terrorists. Radley Balko sighs:

Actually, it’s all about retaining the right to torture Muslims.

The Bulwer-Lytton winners were announced last week. It's a contest to write the worst first line of a novel. I like the runner-up better than the winner. Here it is:

Many more here.

(Hat tip: John Sides)

Bradford Plumer looks at species extinction:

Details here.

The Obama administration is considering holding suspected terrorists even after they are found innocent. Mark Kleiman argues that the US should be allowed this right:

I understand why some captives in wartime are dangerous even if no legal case can be made against them. But if these detainees are prisoners of war, they should surely be given full prisoner of war status. And their detention should be tied to how long the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq last, not to the Global War On Terror, which was designed to be never-ending.

Marriage is now and always has been a state matter in America. Real federalists – not Christianists or base Republicans – have always believed this. And yet the feds recognize thousands of identical marriage licenses in Massachusetts, but not mine. Finally, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is going to sue the federal government to demand equality. And you sure know that today's GOP will resist states' rights every inch of the way.

A reader writes:

Like you, I am amazed how this country came so close to the cliff. That a group of people knowing full well that this woman is totally unqualified to have handled the position of Vice President, let alone president, were willing to sacrifice this country for power is simply mind boggling. From the day Palin stepped on the stage to the night of her convention speech to the Gibson and Couric  interviews, just by listening to her string words together that made little or no sense, I realized that something was amiss.

I worked in a newsroom in Pensacola at the time. Some in there thought that by a stroke of genius McCain had saved his campaign. Many others sided with me and thought the woman was going to flame out.

But for me the fact that McCain chose this woman ran deeper than most. I came to this country as an immigrant because of war in my country. I had just become a citizen and was going to be voting for the very first time in my life. I had admired the American system of governing. The mere change of power without a single gunshot being fired is something that I am in awe of,

even today.

And this country that has been touted as the greatest on the

earth was being played like a two bit banjo by a select few, who could careless

about the grit that this country was built on and made of. That sent chills

down by body.

I saw through the deceit, lies, hypocrisy, all of it by people, who should have known better, but chose to forgo their principles. I watched Peggy Noonan talk out of both sides of her mouth about this woman. And when she was caught with a hot mike, tried to make the best out of her hypocrisy.

I watch journalists shy away from asking the questions – tough questions – that they probably would have had no qualms asking women the likes of Hillary Clinton, if the shoe was on the other foot.

Even today, you have reporters like Andrea Mitchell and others from major networks flocking down to Arkansas to continue to give this woman legitimacy. They still are not asking the right questions. Mitchell, when Palin complained about the fact that the frivolous ethics investigations were pushing her out, did not have a follow-up question. She too, had gone down there for the photo-op, to my mind.

You are so right. It is not about this woman (as far as I am concerned) anymore. It is about the people  — John McCain, people in the GOP and our erstwhile media that came together and nearly destroyed this country. I share your desire to continue to push on this story until these people are fully exposed for what they wrought upon us.

(Photo: the cynic and fool who gave us palin, by Mario Tama/Getty.)