Daughters are less ‘valued’ than sons in many families. This is not to say that parents love their daughters any less than they love their sons. But from an economic standpoint, sons bring income into the household and, when they marry, another woman into the house to help with the chores.

For many parents then, sons are seen as a kind of private pension plan – the expectation being that their sons will look after them in their old age.

Daughters, on the other hand, are a . . .drain on the family’s resources. When they marry, they leave the parental home and move in with the groom’s family. There’s also the matter of the dowry to be paid when a daughter marries – another financial drain on the family [Although illegal under the terms of the 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act and Sections 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code, the practice persists in some communities]

‘Tis no wonder then that many families prefer sons to daughters. This has led to selective abortion of female foetuses. And as a result, there is now an imbalance in the male:female sex ratio in India, with a shortage of women to meet the demand for brides in some areas of the country.

Now you might think this would make it a seller’s market for families with daughters – an opportunity to negotiate more favourable terms for agreeing to let their daughter marry a suitor? Perhaps even require the groom’s family to pay a ‘bride price’ ?

Sadly, it doesn’t work like that.

Far from the imbalance in the sex ratio empowering women, the opposite is the case. With a shortage of women, there has been an increase in rape, human trafficking and the emergence of “wife-sharing” amongst brothers, i.e., a woman marrying one man having to ‘service’ his unmarried brothers

http://tinyurl.com/3llx9ds

A dowry can be seen as a premature transfer to the daughter of what would otherwise have been the share of her parent’s estate she might have expected to receive on their death if she had not married out of the family.

It might be seen as a gift to help the newly wed couple set up home for themselves

It might be seen as a way of giving a daughter some protection against an unhappy marriage by providing her with some financial independence

In practice, however, the dowry is generally seen by the groom and his family as an addition to their wealth.

Since the root of the selective abortion of female fetuses is the economic disadvantages for the parents of raising a female rather than a male child, the first step in redressing this situation must be to equalise the economic benefits of male vs female children to the parents. Perhaps a move in this direction would to halt the transfer of any wealth/property to a daughter on her marriage and instead make it available on the death of the parents? That way, a daughter is not a drain on the family’s resources during the life of the parents and, additionally, there would thus be created a financial inducement for the daughter and the groom’s family to assist in looking after her parents in their old age?

This is a simplistic idea I know, but every journey starts with a single step.

Coincidentally, while driving home from work tonight and thinking about this post, my local radio station was broadcasting the news about Farzana Yasmin – a Bangladeshi woman who decided to divorce her husband within minutes of being married because he demanded a dowry.

Go girl !!!

http://tinyurl.com/bvwjz3e

The sun, now was gently kissing her body . . . hey, why am I doing all this ?

Come on, lend a hand !

Everyone has access to FKF.

The sun defiantly sends orange coloured shafts of light into the night sky as it sinks slowly into the quicksand of the horizon. For a brief moment all that remains are long shadows that seem to stretch forever, then they too become devoured by the ensuing, all-enveloping blackness.

Night has fallen and has taken prisoners

The hedgerows suddenly burst into life with the sound of Crickets, filling the air with the sound of escaping electricity like a hideous, unrelenting tinutis in the ear of mankind.

Moths, caught mesmerised in the beam of artificial lights, perform grotesque manouevres in a silent dance of death.

The moon now reigns supreme, and casts a mother-like admonition on her bickering infants as she bathes the world in a soft, apologetic smile.

(How’s that, eh ? )

ps: and if you think that’s brill; just wait for vol. 3!

The urge is almost sexual in its intensity (can I add one to the above lis?)

Armed with an old sock, saturated in Ajax, I commenced battle with the grime, and was finally rewarded with a keyboard displaying all the characters of the alphabet, and some more that I will never have the use of.

However, during the process, I had ripped the “g” key from its mount.

No amount of DIY effort, or encouraging cries of “get back, you bastard ” had any affect.

“Disaster” you may think, as I, originally did.

But no ! Strangely enough, I can now readily identify aforesaid key by its plastic stump.

I am now going to remove all the keys from my keyboard.

Cheps, Shitty :

To illustrate. Mrs. ratty has just evicted me from “Fircombe Hall,” the ancestral family home, and banished me to an unspecified period of solitude at “Appartment ratty” here in downtown, polluted, Casablanca.

My crime?

Putting in a pair of new (but only worn a few times) blue socks in the family wash, resulting in everyone going around wearing clothes of an attractive (I think) shade of baby blue, tastefully and tantalisingly patterned in random streaks of a much darker hue.

The previously bland, and boring, white bathroom towels are now an interior designer’s “must have.”

I really believe I was making progress in my attempt to get a grim-faced Mrs. ratty to “think out of the box.”

Then I laughed.

Christ, KFC again tonight!

The ostensible purpose ?

Partly to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden and to drive the Taliban from power

Well it took 10 years but bin Laden has been executed

The Taliban, however, have hardly been vanquished. True, with the help of the Northern Alliance, they were removed from power but they have not been defeated and are merely biding their time until the USA and her allies withdraw their troops – for domestic electoral purposes – emerging periodically to inflict a bloody nose on american and allied troops

After 10 years, and the death and injury of a great many brave military personel – not to mention the slaughter and maiming of thousands of civilians – very little concrete change for the better has been achieved

While Cameron and Obama exaggerate the ‘successes’ of the invasion – so that when the troops are pulled out they can do so with some claim to honor and dignity – others offer a more sober appraisal of this sorry affair

One German general – who thinks the mission in Afghanistan has been a failure – believes the Taliban will be back in power within a few months of the allied troops leaving in 2014 http://tinyurl.com/6g47ebt

See also . . .

http://tinyurl.com/62qnu8o

http://tinyurl.com/678aq7n

http://tinyurl.com/3dnbemy

Meanwhile, men and women continue to be killed and injured in this pointless war

WARNING – in following vid, soldier’s helmet cam captures the moment he steps on an I.E.D.

For a few moments, a droplet of early morning dew, held protectively in the folds of a spider’s gossamer-thin web, joined in the celebration of the pubescent day, catching a shard of sunlight and prismatically shattering it into a myriad of colours that gambolled with gay and jubillant abandon in a victory dance.

A barely discernible scent, seductive in its promise of a new beginning, arose from the earth and played amongst the sleeping flora, gently coaxing them from their slumbers, yawning and stretching their leaves awake and lifting their heads skyward in silent hommage.

In a scene of indescribable grace, a flock of Cranes descended in a perfect circle as though attending an ealy morning parade, then broke off into individual «beats» like white liveried Constables upholding Nature’s unwritten laws.

Tree tops, abundant with rich green foliage, spread out gently perfumed branches as welcoming, maternal arms in which to cradle song birds and sway them gently in the warm breeze while the world stood still and listened to choristors singing ageless, spellbinding songs of exquisite beauty.

Course, that’s when the weather’s nice. When it’s pissing down with rain, then it’s another story altogether.

A United Nations 2007 report estimates that as many as 5,000 women and children a year are killed by members of their own family – though as many ‘honor’ killings are not reported or are passed off as suicides, that figure may well be understating the prevalence of the practice

[In Pakistan alone, 647 incidences of so-called honor killings were reported by the press in 2009, 46% of all female murders in Pakistan that year – Human Rights Commission for Pakistan]

The reasons given to justify honor killings include – “dressing in a manner unacceptable to the family or community, wanting to terminate or prevent an arranged marriage or desiring to marry by own choice, especially if to a member of a social group deemed inappropriate, engaging in heterosexual acts outside marriage, engaging in homosexual acts,” – or losing her virginity outwith marriage

[I have highlighted the last reason for a purpose – which I’ll return to in a moment]

First of all, let me say straight away that murdering women and girls and calling it an ‘honor’ killing is a load of fucken bollocks!!!

Calling a murder an ‘honor’ killing does not in anyway justify or excuse or lesson the crime.

Let’s be blunt here – so-called ‘honor’ killings are not about family honor. They are about male pride !!!

There is nothing honorable about killing someone – even less so when it is one of your own family.

There is enough shit in the world that we have to deal without being shat upon by our own family. We may not always get on. We may actively dislike them. But when folks are against us, we should be able to count on our family at least to rally round and stand by us !

Being raped can be a double whammy if you are unfortunate enough to be a woman living in Pakistan. Far from being supported by your family after such an ordeal, you are likely to be killed by your father and brothers for bringing shame on them (male pride again masquerading as family honor )

Praise then for the father of 17 yr old Kainat Soomro who was kidnapped on her way home from school when she was 13 and gang-raped. Despite being declared ‘kari’ (for losing her virginity before marriage) her father has refused to kill her, and the family have fled their village to escape the pressure on them to do so.

Read about it here – http://tinyurl.com/44v8ye9

To all those men in Pakistan and elsewhere who care so much about their family’s honor, I say this – when your wife or daughter is violated, don’t kill her. If you must kill someone, then kill the bastard that raped her !!!

You brought that child into this world. You have a duty to support and protect her. Kill your daughter because she has been raped and you send a message to all would be rapists that Khan’s [enter family name here] daughters are fair game – after we’ve raped them the stupid bugger kills them because they have lost their virginity before marriage, and hey, he’s got another 5 daughters. Whey hay !!!

Your daughter’s been raped? If you were so concerned about family honor then kill the bastards that raped her. That way you send a clear message out that no one-one fucks with your family and gets away with it. That to me is what upholding family honor is about!

Or is that too hard a concept for you numbskulls to grasp ???

Before I continue, I should point out to our colonial cousins, that here, in our British Isles, “Vet” is an abreviated term for “Veterinary Surgeon.”

“Vet,” in America (as I understand it) refers to a veteran serviceman or woman. Here in the UK, such a person is regarded as a “Hero.” It matters not that their duties are that of a Nurse desperately fighting to keep a badly injured soldier alive, or an infantryman denied body armour and issued six rounds of ammunition, or whether they’ve just spent their tour of duty defusing IED’s or that their job is to fry up bacon and eggs for the troops or sit in an office somewhere sending emails. In the UK’s politically correct society, those who board a ship or plane for a far-off conflict, are automatically termed “Heros.”

The final accolade for being a (surviving) “Hero,” having given up on the chance of a normal life with all limbs intact, is a few quid and a fuck off, end of service contract.

Where am I going with this? Ah – yes, Vets!

I was pleasantly suprised to find that . . . he was not the usual spindly type of Vet we are used to (who are eager to mention that to become a Vet takes more time than to become a Doctor, to which I eagerly reply “that’s because you’re thick.”

This guy was well-built and had an air of self-importance. He also had a hairy chest, shirt unbuttoned, he flashed a ‘gold’ medallion.

Leaning against the tea-chest, he looked at the kitten we had rescued from the street. The kitten (just a few weeks old,) had been the subject of a ferocious attack and had had its eyes slashed. As a consequence he was blind and and hideously disfigured.

“Keep him isolated” said the Vet, seemingly unaware that we had the kitten in a tea-chest.

Without picking him up to examine his injuries, he then went on (sorry, I forgot to mention that, at this stage, he waggled his fingers and blew a kiss to his female passenger in his 4 x4) to say that he had a tube of something which would cost £36.93, not including his call out charge.

His parting shot, was to call, over the purr of his German-engineered motor, “If he’s no better in the morning, call me out again.”

Cnut!

IMUSTNOTPOSTWHENI’MPISSEDIMUSTNOTPOSTWHENI’MPISSEDIMUSTNOTPOSTWHENI’MPISSEDIMUSTNOTPOSTWHENI’MPISSED . . .

This change in the balance of the population, means that supporting the elderly is placing an increasingly onerous burden on the shoulders of the young.

To put it bluntly, the country can no longer afford to support these free-loaders!

The government (in collusion with industry) has tried to address the problem by abolishing final salary pension schemes and delaying the age at which the state pension becomes payable – hoping to force the buggers to keep working instead of taking to a life of ease paid for by the rest of us.

These measures are too wishy-washy. What is needed is bold measures. Euthansia – that’s the answer !!!

It has always seemed odd to me that we send our young men and women (with their whole life ahead of them) to fight wars.

I propose instead that we conscript pensioners into our armed forces.

Think about it

The buggers won’t have to worry about winter fuel allowance, no more worries about paying utility bills, their housing will be provided for them, their meals cooked for them, they’ll have plenty of company so no more loneliness, they’ll have lots of activities to keep them busy so no more boredom, and the opportunity for foreign travel to broaden their horizon. And of course they’ll have access to free medical care. Really, it would be doing them a kindness to conscript them !!!

Of course the downside (from their point of view) is the possibility of being killed, especially the less agile. [It really would be a case of ‘survival of the fittest’]

‘Evolutionary Euthanasia’

Got a nice ring to it, don’t you think ?