i dont even need to comment

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Nov. 29) - A British teacher in Sudan was convicted Thursday of the less-serious charge of insulting Islam for letting her pupils name a teddy bear "Muhammad," and was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation to Britain, one of her lawyers said. Gillian Gibbons could have received 40 lashes and six months in prison in the case if found guilty of the more serious charge of inciting religious hatred and given the maximum penalty.

A court in Sudan on Thursday convicted British elementary school teacher Gillian Gibbons, here in an undated photo, of "insulting the faith of Muslims" for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad.

In London, the Foreign Office said it was "extremely disappointed with the sentence," adding that Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador to explain the verdict.

Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after complaints to the Education Ministry that she had insulted Prophet Muhammad, the most revered figure in Islam, by applying his name to a teddy bear. She was found guilty of "insulting the faith of Muslims in Sudan" under Article 125 of the Sudanese criminal code, a less-serious charge than the original count of inciting religious hatred, said Ali Mohammed Ajab, a member of her defense team. The charge later was confirmed by a judge who was leaving the closed court session.

"I feel this is very serious and very unfair," Ajab told The Associated Press outside court. Ajab, who also works for the Khartoum Center for Human Rights, said the issue was raised by "hard-liners who are always trying to make some noise," in an apparent reference to religious conservatives. Ajab said his center would appeal the verdict.

Gibbons' employer, Robert Boulos of the Unity High School, called it "a very fair verdict.""She could have had six months and lashes and a fine, and she only got 15 days and deportation," Boulos said.

He noted that she would only spend 10 days in prison, having already served five.

Gibbons is expected to serve her sentence in the Omdurman women's prison near Khartoum.

Religious conservatives in Sudan were outraged by the naming of the teddy bear, and defense lawyers reported receiving death threats. "I am threatened, that's why I'm carrying a gun in court," defense lawyer Abdel Khalig Abdallah said, opening his coat to reveal a revolver during a break in the trial.

crazy like a muslim

Teacher Arrested for Naming Teddy 'Mohammed'

Posted Nov 27th 2007 8:27AM by Ada CalhounFiled under: Islam, Children, Controversy
A British teacher at a high school in Sudan, Gillian Gibbons, 54, was arrested on blasphemy charges for allowing her six- and seven-year-old students to name a class teddy bear "Mohammed," says the Telegraph. She was interrogated for five hours, according to the Daily Mail, and the teacher now may face forty lashes and six months in prison. Protests against Ms. Gibbons, a divorced mother of two, have broken out all over Sudan and the school has been closed through January to prevent retaliation.

dont they name their children mohammed? this is one of the more ridiculous religions!

the christian response: the first blog called for a christian jihad to bomb the muslims off the face of the earth. the next was a guy who said he wanted a tattoo that said "islam is for fags!"... which of us is the more enlightened culture?

body of water

the body of water project is taking more time, energy, and money than expected. it is becoming very labor intensive but should be quite beautiful. seth, a great kid at dick blicks art supply in berkeley has been helping with paper problems, above and beyond the call of duty. jessica, the film productionist in hollywood, has been great and wonderful and creative. richard, the printer, hasnt been in contact... might have to send him an email... and i am painting painting painting...

until galleRoy.com is available, go to royanthonyshabla.com for information about my art: http://royanthonyshabla.com

and the rush is on.

the holiday season is upon us. and the frenzy has begun. i have always hated the holidays ~ even as a child i didnt like them... the holiday frenzy seemed like an awful lot of ugly work just to get a few gifts. but children can be our healing of the holidays. having a child of my own makes the season wonderful ~ she is excited about the decorations, the events, the foods, the gifts, the gifts, the gifts... she isnt so attached to the gifts... she is more interested in opening them than having them. the holiday season is also made much easier by not giving gifts to adults. the wise men brought presents for the baby jesus (remember all that?) not for mary and joseph (although what a baby was gonna do with a bag of gold and a couple bottles of perfume i dont know...). so treats for the kids and festivities for all. i got elizabeth up off the couch yesterday and we went for a dash to find some kids gifts and did quite well before the crowds arrived in the evening. cowboy jackets and cocktail dresses... toys will have to be another time. maybe madonna has it right ~ she is a kabbalist now and only celebrates the jewish high holidays (less hubbub, small gifts). i wonder how her kids are doing with the switch... but since children are our healing of the holidays, i wonder how madonna is doing with how her kids are doing with the holidays... a grandmother in scotland took her daughter to court because the daughter refused to allow her to see the grandchildren. the grandmother had been giving the children too much candy and soft drinks and sneaked it to them even after the mother disapproved. the court gave the grandmother visitation rights for two hours a month with the prohibition of giving the children sugar. now she will have to think of some other gift. what kind of christmas will they have?

my last post on atheism

pbs has a three-part essay on atheism called a history of disbelief. i watched the last episode on sunday night and was impressed by the small-minded approach given to such a vast subject. it was not only a history of atheism but a sentimental personal monologue of an atheist. the movement seemed outdated in the 19th century and hasnt changed much in the 21st. what disturbed me about the show was that there seemed to be no differentiation between "not believing in the existence of god" and "not believing in the validity of religion"...the two ideas seeming interchangeable and irrevocably linked. silly atheists. just because the christians, jews, and muslims are ridiculous doesnt mean there is no god. thats not even logical ~ and logical is what the atheists say they are. the other thing that is interesting is that the show made no attempt to delve into any esoteric or contemplative religion thus illuminating the entire atheist movement as a mere reaction against christianity. if you cant find problems with the bible as the word of god then you havent read it. that doesnt mean there is no god, that means the bible (as it is presented) is a sham. there were references to a beautiful pamphlet written by percy byshe shelly but once again, that was a reaction against religion, christianity and the bible, and not an argument against the existence of god. in this information age, the intelligent minds of the atheists dont seem open enough to research the existence of god beyond the bible. it is always being said, "so-and-so brought yoga or zen or chinese medicine to the west, to america" but these philosophies have been exported from asia for hundreds of years. 19th century atheists could have converted to the great atheist religion: buddhism. if they had done their research. in the 20th century, science proved the existence of god (without religious nonsense) through the experimentation of einsteins theories. do your research. and in the 21st century, science and spirituality are merging into a real and honest relationship. nothing to do with intelligent design (which had no intelligence to it and was a poor design) but an appreciation of the amazing common ground they share. in india, a 33 year old man just married a stray dog to release himself from a curse. the dog was dressed like a bride and a ceremony and wedding feast ensued. the entire town participated. the news did not report what the wedding night entailed or if the man had plans to marry a human in the future. would he get divorced first if he did? how can you not have a special place in your heart for religion after such a story? my new favorite movie is lars and the real girl where a guy, through the compassion of the small town where he lives, works through an emotional healing of relationships via the delusion that a latex sex doll is his girlfriend. (the town doctor is played by an amazing actress and the part was written perfectly for her.) the entire town participates in their relationship, the joys and the sorrows. this is what the divine is, the group participating as one. how can you not have a special place in your heart for god after seeing such a movie? atheists are sure missing a lot.

its the end of the world as we know it

i wonder what people think of the end of the world, why they fear it, why they prepare for it... there is a christian sect in a wasteland in russia that has holed itself up in a cave until the end of the world. they predict the end of the world will come in may. personally, i would wait until the end of april to be roughing it in a cave... but thats just me. i mean: a wasteland in russia in winter is bad enough ~ couldnt you just stay home? its probably not too different from the cave... maybe there are curtains but seriously, cold and hopeless is cold and hopeless. the group consists of 29 adults and 4 children. they say the church has gone wrong (im not disagreeing with them but seriously, how sensible can they be? winter in russia in a cave?...) and they threaten to blow themselves up if anyone tries to extricate them. so they would be cheating doomsday by a few months... how different would that be from what they are expecting the end of the world to be? what i dont understand is this: why are they in the cave anyway? wont the end of the world find them anywhere they are? i asked a christian friend and he said that that doesnt make sense, god can find you anywhere. i said theyre christians they dont have to make sense. i imagine they have a bosch idea of the end of the world ~ christians tend to be fanatics and over-dramatize things. hieronymous bosch painted fantastic doomsday scenes depicting the hallucinations of one of the drug-induced, psychedelic chapters of that book they worship. they are fantastic. just fantastic. (FANTASY!) about the destruction of civilization and the cruel judgement of people. maybe this christian cult thinks it will avoid the armageddon if they are not living in civilization at the end of days (what civilization is there in that wasteland anyway? do they get touring exhibits from the museum of modern art? is there a wolfgang puck restaurant?) there are many stories in the folklore of the world about the end of times, most of them are based in fear. hellfire and brimstone, judgement... as a people, we must inherently feel we are bad bad creatures. no matter which side of the fire you think you will go, we must all feel inherently bad to ascribe to such stories of judgement. i prefer to think that no matter how pathetic it is, we are all doing the best we can. and at the end of times, brahma will just close his eyes and that will be it.

for reasonable prdictions: http://blesstheworld.com

money doesnt equal manners

i went to the deep valley to do feng shui work on a house in remodel on tuesday, the valley a frightening experience in itself... but as i started the work, the husband of the house arrived home. quite often, the man of the house is not so interested in my work and it is the wife who solicits me or agrees with the designer to have me come. this is not always the case (my dear clients who are now in dallas are a great example) but usually the man of the house constitutes the difficult part of the work. and this house was a prime example. often the man of the house is avoided as he is at work himself but that fortune was not available on tuesday. and so the dance began. he told me he didnt believe in feng shui; he told me there were dozens of books written on how feng shui doesnt work (can you show me five? one?); he told me that since there were no problems with the construction in an area i told them it was dangerous to work now, none of what i said was valid; he told me that he stayed frequently at the win hotel in las vegas and he never saw anything change (im not sure why he told me that but it was supposed to be negative about feng shui)... and he told me he didnt believe in god. i told him he didnt have to take my advice. but he did have to pay for it. c. c. cooper, their designer and my dear friend (among other things), was embarrassed by his aggressively rude behaviour ~money doesnt equal manners~ and took me for wine and dinner when we left. the wife was very kind and interested in the work. i am not saying she was kind because she agreed with me, im saying she was kind because she was open to agreeing with me. she asked intelligent questions and seemed genuinely interested in the answers. she will implement some of the treatments, he will block the others. a marriage is a "give-and-take". maybe i am single because i just dont like what is given and what is taken. maybe that should be the question for every relationship. and the interesting thing is this: i have found arrogant people never believe in god ~they find no room in the world for anything greater than themselves. humility is inherent in any true belief in the divine. if you were so inclined to create a weed, a dandelion, from what would you create it? well, from a dandelion seed, of course! the problem is, man has never ~in all his great achievements throughout history~ been able to create a simple dandelion seed on his own. and yet some men think they are the master of the universe! well think what you like. you still have to pay for my advice. for some people, money is the only thing they have to give.

for information on feng shui: http://blesstheworld.com

humanity is overrated

i have been out of town for over a week, in the san francisco area for an antiques show, staying with friends. the show was not great but the friends were. we did not sell much and most of what was sold went to dealers, the serious and sophisticated customers from the bay area being all but absent. the friends i stay with near berkeley have a baby whom i call "coconut" who is now almost 1 1/2 years old and smart as a whip. she comprehends and communicates better than i do. the weather was pleasant and crisp and except for the morning fog that caused the hundred-car pile-up, it was the perfect beginning to autumn. returning to los angeles, however, was cold and gloomy. its all about perspective! there were many emails to answer but none from people affected by the recent fires, the only orders for spiritual remedies were unrelated to tragedy. finland had a terrible event today: a sad and beautiful boy took a handgun to high school and killed the principal and seven others before killing himself. he had announced his intention on u-tube... this is reminiscent of the virginia tech tragedy and im sure the heart of america will go out to finland. at both the finnish high school (jokela high school in tuusula finland) and virgina tech university, the gunmen were upset with society. they were disenchanted with the superficiality of modern life and unable to justify our existence. were they dark misguided prophets? its all about perspective. reality television and tabloid journalism drain the light from your soul. and maybe these boys couldnt see in the dark. i understand that disenchantment... and i keep squinting... returning to my friends home after a long day of nobody appreciating my antiques and decorative arts, the coconut greeted me at the door. i said, "you have a bat on your shirt" and she looked at her shirt and pointed to the holloween bat and said, "i do have a bat on my shirt. and look at you!" sometimes you dont have to look far to see that humanity is very underrated.

for hope: http://blesstheworld.com