Young Afghan Brides Flogged for Escaping: Inhuman act

LINK TO NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/world/asia/31flogging.html

What is wrong with the people in this world? Seriously. I can't seem to go a day without asking that question anymore.

This is the 21st freaking century. We're educated people here. Please educate your idiotic, twisted minds! Not that any of those would be reading this anyway. Though I seriously wish they would! Because when reading this article, I had the strongest desire and urge to go to that village, get a belt 10 times stronger, and beat each of those people present 80 times. On their rear ends. Then have them sit on a heated frying pan. Without any clothes. Then, electrocute them. And throw them in a den of lions.

If these people really think they are some sort of religious leaders, somebody needs to shake the reality into their pea-sized brains. They are not religious leaders, they are The Barbaric Idiotic Organization for Morons leaders.

Now that I have let some of my steam off, I would like to add a brief account of what happened for all those who haven't read or don't want to read the attacked article. Basically, two girls (ages 13 and 14) from the village of Gardan-i-Top in the province of Ghor were forced into marriage to much older men. They both managed to escape, dressed as boys. However, their bus was stopped at a checkpoint in the western Herat province. They expected the police officer to be on their side since the law was too. However, the dim-witted (yes, I just did) police officer recognized that they were girls and sent them back to their village. Bravo points for you there, little moron friend.

Back at the little village, there was a little so-called trial of the girls. Local mullahs and a former warlord who rules the village, Fazil Ahad Khan were present. The spectators consisted of men in camouflage uniforms who watched and videotaped the floggings. A local mullah struck both the girls, giving them 40 lashes each with a leather strap. He was striking them hard enough that he hurt his own wrist once. Personally, I hope you burn in hell, dude.

Neither girls made a single noise throughout these lashes, although one's face was streaked with tears. Brave girls. There strength makes me smile.

If anyone is ready to challenge me and say that these floggings were deserved and this is a totally normal act under the light of Islam is not even worthy of a dignified response from me. Instead I shall greet them with a boiling saucepan to their faces or maybe 40 leather strap lashes?

No. This is not in any way, shape, or form an Islamic act. No where in the rules of Islam would this kind of barbaric act ever be condoned. Instead this would be a highly punishable act. And I hope these barbaric morons will meet their justice in a seriously painful way some day.

The girls were considered divorced by the mullah and sent back to their family. I can only hope that they will be treated better. But my hope is weighed down by the fact that their families are the ones who forced them into marriage in the first place. God help these idiotic morons.

You know, I'm glad I actually have somewhere to let all this steam off. I just really hope this post can make its way to these idiots I refer to. And someday I can actually go into these places and help my fellow sisters. Ameen.

Love,

Amna.

Gaza Flotilla Raid: Another sad happening

Hiya there.

So, this morning I read about the whole Israeli raid at Gaza. Both sides are saying that the other initiated the attack. What I can't understand is why a bunch of journalists would attack soldiers? Doesn't make sense. And I'm not even trying to be biased here, trust me. Anyhow, we don't know what exactly happened. Although I have read on different sources that there are some video accounts of what happened. I just hope that the U.N. investigates this and comes to a conclusion soon.

I don't care who started it and who killed who. This whole fighting on that poor place needs to stop. Why can't people stop killing each other? I don't understand why people aren't happy with what they already have. I just wish both Palestine and Israel would come to an agreement and settle this. So many innocent lives have been taken in this stupid egotistical struggle for power.

In my opinion, the Gaza blockade is just inhumane. I neither know nor care what the Hamas has been doing there, but whatever it is, it's not the poor Palestinian citizen's fault. Why are they going through this? Have all of these so called world leaders thought about the poor children there? What they have to put up with? Nobody seems to care about what sort of circumstances these poor kids are growing up in. No wonder kids from both sides grow up to hate each other. It's because of the circumstances they grow up in. And add on top of it that they are told all this sorrow is because the other side is evil. How hard would it be to hate the other side and blame them for your sorrows?

It's just really sad to hear about all this death and destruction. It's been so long that people don't even think much of the number of people dying there everyday. You know it's depressingly sad when that happens. I shudder to think what it would be like to live in such a place. I just wish somebody would lock the two leaders in the room and tell them to talk it out like real men. Sheesh. So many lives are not worth wasting on the ego problems of the leader. All they do themselves is sit on their high chairs and give orders to keep their ego intact while all the poor soldiers are the ones falling on both sides.

This war has been going on too long. Somebody needs to shake these leaders and tell them to get over it. I may not be a super knowledgeable scholar or something, but I know this much: there is no religion on this earth that in its truthfulness supports violence or war. If it does then people must have interpreted it wrong.

Anyways, this is all I had to say about this so far. I hope this conflict can come to an end soon and somebody can put some sense into these pigheaded leaders. With that said, I hope all those fallen in this attack and the ones preceding it rest in peace. And I hope God gives patience to their families and those injured.

Love,

Amna.

How to make a McDonalds McGriddle: Amna style

Yeah. Random, I know. But I was just thinking about making another one and thought why not post the recipe? I would just like to add here that I am not a McDonalds employee or anything. This isn't in any way, shape, or form the official McDonalds recipe or anything. I'm just a McGriddle lover without a car or the ability to wake up early in the morning.

So, I just looked at a couple of pictures of McGriddles remembered some contents from memory and figured this out. So, this is how I put together a McGriddle at home when I'm not able to go outside and have one.

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:

- Two pancakes

- A slice of cheese

- An egg

- Pancake syrup

ZE PROCEZZ:

1) First of all, take an egg out in a bowl and beat it. Then, add some salt and pepper according t your taste. I added a pinch of salt and very tiny pinch of crushed black pepper. Then beat it some more.

2) While you're beating the egg, put a frying pan on the stove and add some oil to it. After it is considerably heated, add the egg to it. Push the egg into a rectangle shape while it's still liquidy (get it square if you can, I still haven't perfected that yet). Fry it until it's yellowish-brown (or however you like your omelette).

3) While you're making your omelette (or after it), you can make a couple of pancakes. I personally hate frying pancakes so I just get ready-made pancakes and heat them in the oven.

4) When you're done with you pancake, take one of them and put the slice of cheese on it and put it in the microwave. Heat them for about 10 seconds so the cheese is melted to the pancake. (Caution: This might make the pancake very hot).

5) Now put some syrup on the cheese, put the omelette on top of it (fold it in two if you made the rectangle shape), add some more syrup on the omelette, and put the second pancake slice on top.

6) ENJOY your McGriddle!

I tried it numerous times. And for me, it turned out great! If you don't have pancakes readily available, you could use two slices of bread and cut off the edges. It's not the same but it's close enough.

I hope this helped you guys!

Lovez,

Amna.

Mysterious Good Samaritan rescues Fayette girl, vanishes | ajc.com

Mysterious Good Samaritan rescues Fayette girl, vanishes  | ajc.com


And these are the days people make me smile. How sweet of that man to intervene in the little abduction. Most people just get scared and would drive off, can't say there's anything wrong with that. Maybe they don't wanna put there family in danger. But think of how thankful the little girl or her family would be if you intervened. I just really hope they catch the douche bag who tried to abduct her. What is wrong with these people?

She was a smart girl though for trying to run away and not listening to him. And that is all I have to say about this. I will be looking forward to his capture. :)

Lovez,
Amna.

Old News, New Views: Lawrence Taylor charged with a sexual assault case

Hiya peoples!

I'm sure you all heard when the Ex-NFL star Lawrence Taylor was charged with third-degree rape of a 16-year-old runaway girl forced into prostitution. The news was broken to me by my Econ teacher in our class the day after it hit news channels. We often got into discussions about the latest news hype.

I heard a lot of people mention that maybe he was set-up or that he didn't know the age of the girl. Now let me ask you, if you were a 51-year-old man in a room with a 16-year-old girl, couldn't you tell that the girl was a teenager? Or that the girl was way too young for you?

Reports indicate that the girl was beaten up by her dealer and forced to go into the room. I'm sure a person could tell when a girl was beaten and forced into something. However, he still went ahead and sexually assaulted her. Taylor's lawyer commented that Lawrence did not have any sexual relations with the girl. However, from what I read, a rape-kit was done on the girl and it came back positive.

I'm sure the authorities must have some DNA evidence to be able to charge such a famous personality. But I would just like to say that I am purely disgusted that anybody could act like this. Where's people's respect and dignity? To sexually assault an underage girl. Moreover to force a poor runaway girl into prostitution. It is just sad that people's minds can work this way.

At the same time, a note to girls out there. Don't runaway from home. You don't know what you'll encounter out there. Moreover, don't trust strangers. If there's something going on at home, then talk to someone. Or maybe just call 1-800-RUNAWAY and get some help. Running away is one of the most dangerous thing to do because there's predators out there looking to prey on young, innocent runaways.

Love,
Amna.

13-year-old Yemeni bride, Elham, dies of brutality, everybody moves on: My thoughts

Hiya there, readers.

So, today I approach my post in a serious tone. Jokes, funny comments, and sarcasm aside. This is something I feel very strongly about. I have been a feminist and a human rights advocate as long as I can remember. And sometimes, my faith in humanity just drops miles down.

I will let you know that this isn't exactly current news; it is more than a month old. However, now that I have a blog that I regularly write in, I couldn't NOT mention this.

Over a month ago, sometime in April, I was sitting in my Anatomy class. I (for reasons I cannot recall) decided to open the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website. There I spotted an article about a 13-year-old Yemeni child bride's death. I'm sure such a catchy title would have gotten anyone's attention, and me being the strong feminist that I am, it really hit home. I can say this honestly: no news article (that I can recall) has ever affected my this strongly. I cried while reading it, and I could not stop thinking about that poor little girl. I didn't even know what she looked like but the days that followed had me in such a down mood. I would start crying for no reason. Even today, it is really hard for me to write this article without crying and find the write words.

I'm sure all of you are wanting to know the story of the girl, if you haven't already heard it. A couple of months ago, a 13-year-old Yemeni girl called Elham Mahdi Shoi was married off to a 23-year-old man, Abed al-Hikmi. Her Al Hikmi and Elham's brother had an agreement to marry each other's sisters to avoid having to pay the expensive bride-price.

Although I cannot find the article that I read on the AJC website anymore, I still remember the gory details I read. The girl's family had asked Al-Hikmi to not consummate the marriage until she was a little older. However, he was getting frustrated and wanted to prove his "manhood" by consummating the marriage. Elham's family tried to convince her to let him consummate the marriage. A few days after the marriage, Al-Hikmi proceeded to rape Elham, beating her when she resisted. In doing so, he tore her vaginal canal.

Following this, he took Elham to a clinic and asked for them to give her tranquilizers so she wouldn't resist him, but allegedly, they refused. He continued to tie her up and sexually and physically abuse her. Later, he took her back to the clinic because she was unable to stand or walk and was continually bleeding. Dr. Fathiya Haider asked Al-Hikmi to stay away from Elham for at least 10-days as her vaginal cavity was ruptured. However, autopsy reports indicate that he did not follow these directions.

A few days later, Elham died of excessive vaginal bleeding in her mother's arms. Her mother, Nijma Ahmed, commented that before dying, Elham told her that Al-Hikmi had brutally raped and beaten her. She further commented that Elham looked as if she had been butchered.

The last I read of Abed Al-Hikmi was that he was in police custody. I could not find any thing more about what they were going to do with him. In my opinion, he needs to be tortured, raped, and electrocuted. Then he needs to be left stranded in a dessert without any food or water. But then again, that's just my opinion and probably will not be upheld by the courts of law.

According to several news articles, this practice of marrying young girls to older men is common in Yemen. International Human Rights groups have tried to get a law passed about increasing the age at which girls can be married to 17; however, local authorities say this is un-Islamic and have long opposed it.

Being a Muslim girl myself, I don't think that act would be un-Islamic at all. These twisted, sick people completely mold the rules of our religion to what suits there wants. Why don't they read about the part of Islam that says that rape and beating up is haram (disallowed)? Isn't it also in the Quran that a marriage without the actual consent and liking of both of the people involved is considered void. There is accounts of Prophet Mohammad himself rendering a marriage void after a woman told him that she did not want to marry her husband and did not like him. Then, how do these people commit such acts of human rights violation behind the banner of Islam?

Islam is nothing like these people portray it! It is a peaceful religion. And it is because of these twisted, illiterate people that Islam is viewed the way it is by others. So, the next time one of these official says that such a law would be "un-Islamic" I would love for someone to throw in their face that most of the things that are going on under their rule now are HIGHLY un-Islamic as well. They cannot give the name of Islam to something that they want to do.

The story, when the incident first happened, was all over a lot of news websites. But now, that it has been a while, the hype has died down. I'm so disappointed to see that I don't see anyone pursuing the conviction of Abed Al-Hikmi. There is no news about what is being done with him. Have the people just forgotten about the poor, young Elham? Have the Yemeni officials just let it go? If so, that is truly sad. This is one of those things that makes me immensely disappointed in humanity.

It is my hope that this article would prod people to raise their voice. Because I, personally, would love to know what is going to be done with Al-Hikmi now. So, what is your view on this? And please, no bashing the religion. It is not Islam's fault that these uneducated people abuse it's name and twist it's words around to their liking.

Love,

Amna.

How to Dress Up as Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy

Okay, so I was bored. And I decided to look up how to dress up as Rose Hathaway and sine there was like no definite guide that I could find, I thought I would post one myself. Because Rose is one of my most fav characters and definitely one I would dress up as.

To start off, here's some description of her appearance to those who don't remember it clearly. So, you can figure out if you need to buy any wigs or contacts.

Rose's Appearance:

- Long, dark brown (almost black) hair

- Tanned skin, described as the shade of the inside of an almond by her

- Big, dark eyes

- Very curvy body (natural to all dhampirs but particularly accented on her)

- Very toned muscles from years of tough guardian training (and some naturally)

- Medium height like humans, neither tall nor short but could be considered short compared

to Moroi since they are very tall naturally

- Although this depends on the part of the book you're picking to dress up as her, she has a

bunch of Molnija tattoos (two lightening bolts crossing each other), a battle mark tattoo (a

star-shaped mark), and (by the beginning of Spirit Bound) a promise mark tattoo (a long stretched-out S with curly ends) on her neck.

Rose is described as very attractive, beautiful, sexy, and attention-getting. She is someone who turns heads. At the same time, she has an awesome muscular and kick-ass aura to her because of her guardian-training.

How to Dress Up as Rose:

Okay, so this is the hard part. There really isn't any signature clothing for Rose. However you can make out some simple, Rose-styled clothing from her outfits. There's two different ways you can dress up as Rose:

• Dressy, dolled-up Rose
• Training, kick-ass Rose (although she's kick-ass either way)

For dressy, party Rose:

Get a tight, revealing dress to show off your curves because Rose loves doing that. Add in some pretty jewelry and don't forget her signature Nazar necklace! She always wears it.

For training Rose:

Get sweat pants and a t-shirt. Really. That's what she wears everyday. Occasionally there's tank-tops or maybe jeans involved. If I was wanting to dress up as her and had toned arm-muscles, I would definitely wear a tank-top to show off my muscles since that would give you more of a dhampir novice look. Again, don't forget the signature Nazar necklace, since she wears it all the time. Also, carry a silver stake with you to add more of a dhampir affect. Wearing your hair up in a ponytail or a bun would also add the ready-to-fight Rose affect.

You can find the Nazar necklaces on Richelle Mead's website, or maybe you could even make one. I don't know, I have never tried. Maybe I'll try and then make a post about it!

As for the silver stake, I have no idea where you would be able to get one. But I guess you could always get a wooden or plastic stake and paint it silver! That's work just fine!

So, I hope this was at least a little bit helpful. Did it help you? Do tell me through the comments!

Any suggestions? Please post them!

Lovez,

Amna.

Pondering...

I'm determined to act as if someone is gonna read this. Because someday people WILL be reading. :P

Anyhoo. Graduation is like 2 days away. AWESOMENESS.

What else is going on? Oh yeah, right before school ended, me and a couple of friends decided to make a webshow thing with a story that mashed both the storylines of True Blood and Moonlight. XD

Let's see if this ever happens. And if it does, let's see how it turns out. ^_^
Sounds fun since I'm all into the whole moviemaking thing. But we'll see.
For now thats' all I have to say. Any comments or suggestions??

Oh and I found more avatars that I was talking about. They were on my Photobucket account. :D
I'll post them later.

Loves,
Amna.

Lookey! Some old, pretty avatars :D

So, I was going through my computer and came across these. These are some avatars and signatures I made a long while back for a website I used to go on a lot. I KNOW that there were more then these but I can't seem to find them. humph. Maybe I'll post those later. Anyhoo. Thought I'd post these here :)


Alexis Bledel:




Anne Hathaway:




Kate Beckinsale:




Keira Knightley:




Milo Ventimiglia:




Sharon Den Adel:




Natalie Portman:




Orlando Bloom: