Eideard

Authorities in the country have virtually canceled Valentine’s Day by nixing planned concerts and other events, according to the Associated Press, citing a report by Russian news agency RIA-Novosti.

Instead, Uzbeki lovers will have to content themselves with a government-organized reading of poems by medieval Mughal emperor Babur, who wrote about monuments, flora and fauna, wine parties and battle strategy…

Uzbekistan’s unofficial ban on romantic celebrations isn’t new. Last year, news agency Turkiston described Valentine’s Day as the work of “forces with evil goals bent on putting an end to national values.”

Other Muslim countries feel equally as frigid toward the amorous holiday, which is a nominally Christian one.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have both banned celebration of the day, Voice of America reports. Iranian officials last year said they would take action against amorous citizens who ignored the ban. Saudi Arabia prohibits the gifting of red on V-day — including chocolates, bears, or roses, according to the Saudi Gazette.

In India, right-wing group Sri Rama Sena warned in 2010 that it would take action against educational institutions, restaurants and theaters if they encouraged Valentine’s day celebrations. Some adherents of the group even burned Valentine’s Day cards…

Malaysia joined in the spoil-sporting last year when it announced it would crack down on “immoral acts” during the holiday as part of a wider campaign for its citizens’ lifestyles to be “sin-free.”

The head of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department told state media: “In reality, as well as historically, the celebration of Valentine’s Day is synonymous with vice activities.”

Is there no end to bureaucrats on this planet with no heart for love?

As an example…

Paul Hambleton didn’t know what to do. He was uninsured, hurting, and facing a $30,000 bill to fix his torn-up knee.

So after researching his options, the owner of a valet-parking firm in Henderson, Texas, came up with an inspired solution. He got treated at a luxury facility, by doctors trained at top institutions, and enjoyed a sunny getaway at the same time, all at a fraction of the cost.

Of course there was a hitch: He had to go abroad. After checking out a number of local hospitals in Texas, Hambleton ended up heading across the border, to a facility in Monterrey, Mexico. The entire cost, including airfare: under $6,000.

“I was treated like a billionaire,” says the 52-year-old, who even squeezed in a couple of rounds of golf during his trip. “I had a Baylor-trained surgeon, a personal nurse the entire time, stayed at a top hotel, and had the best chicken enchiladas I’ve ever had. If I had my choice, I’d never go to an American hospital again.”

More Americans than ever are following Hambleton’s logic, and forgoing their local General Hospital in order to travel to places like Thailand, India, or Costa Rica for medical tuneups. More than half a million Americans every year, in fact, who are seeking out everything from dental work to cosmetic surgery to heart stents and hip replacements. It’s called “medical tourism,” and it amounts to a $40-billion annual business…

“It’s a lunatic statement, to say that there’s no quality healthcare overseas,” says Josef Woodman, author of the book Patients Beyond Borders. “For baby boomers who are in financially challenging circumstances, there’s a lot of choice out there now.”

The savings can be significant. Angioplasty that can cost up to $43,000 in the U.S. costs $4,700 in India, or $7,300 in Malaysia, according to data compiled by patientsbeyondborders.com. And in terms of amenities, hospitals like the famed Bumrungrad in Bangkok put their cash-strapped American counterparts to shame…

RTFA for details, anecdotes. I have peers among the grayheads in my family whose regular doctor and dentist are in Mexico. If they can time things appropriately their annual escape via 5th-wheeler to America’s southern border for the winter includes time set aside for medical and dental work on the Mexican side of that border.

Cripes – at least one of our “family” dentists belongs to the American Dental Association and has the contract for dental work for schoolchildren – of the town on the US side of the border.

A Malaysian political activist has agreed to apologise 100 times on the social-media website Twitter in an unusual settlement of a libel case.

Fahmi Fadzil agreed he had made a wrongful accusation of a publishing firm and is sending the message 100 times over three days.

“I’ve defamed BluInc Media & Female Magazine. I retract those words & hereby apologise,” he says…

“This settlement was mutually arrived at by both parties. This is the full and final settlement of this matter,” Mr Fahmi told the BBC.

His Twitter feed has been inundated with messages of support, including some of his friends offering to send the messages on his behalf…

Mr Fahmi’s lawyer, Syahredzan Johan, said he had written an apology to BluInc on Twitter a few hours after making the allegation, but the company’s lawyers later sent him a letter demanding financial damages for defamation and another apology in major newspapers.

Woo-hoo. I was in this situation once – with a competitor of an existing client. As soon as I discovered I was wrong I immediately drove to his offices – asked for a meeting – explained why I had come to an absolutely incorrect conclusion and abjectly apologized for my mistake.

But, I have to say – 100 Tweets would be easy by comparison.

Apple’s iPad 2 shortage has spread to the afterlife as Chinese families in Malaysia rush to buy paper replicas of the popular new gadget to burn for their dead as part of a centuries-old rite.

During the Qingming festival, also known as the tomb sweeping festival, Chinese communities in Asia honor their ancestors by burning fake money or replicas of luxury items such as flashy cars and designer bags…

“Some of my customers have dreams where their departed relatives will ask for luxury items including the iPad 2,” said prayer item shopkeeper Jeffrey Te as he filled cardboard chests with fake money at his shop on the outskirts of the capital.

“I can only offer them the first iPad model,” he added, pointing to shelves stocked with the gadget along with paper iPhones and Samsung Galaxy Tabs.

Te shipped in 300 iPad 2 replica sets from China for the Qingming festival, which has just flown off the shelves and left him struggling to meet demand — a scenario Apple Inc also faces.

In Te’s shop, the first and second generation paper iPads sell at a dollar for 888 gigabyte capacity, an auspicious number in Chinese culture. A basic 16 gigabyte iPad for the living costs $499.

Har. Since I already have my iPad 2 I can smile with satisfaction.

“Beware the trap of Valentine’s Day”
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Malaysia has stepped up a campaign to stop Muslims celebrating Valentine’s Day – labelling it a “trap” that could encourage immoral behaviour.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Monday’s celebration of romantic love was “not suitable” for Muslims.

Several Malaysian states are planning to carry out checks on hotels to stop young couples having premarital sex.

The anti-Valentine’s Day campaign by the country’s Islamic authorities goes back to a fatwa issued in 2005. Leaflets have been distributed to Muslim university students urging them to avoid Monday’s celebration.

The government-run Department of Islamic Development, which handles religious policies, has launched a publicity campaign called “Mind the Valentine’s Day Trap”. Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz, the department’s chief, told state media: “In reality, as well as historically, the celebration of Valentine’s Day is synonymous with vice activities. Islam would reject anything, even from the Eastern culture, if it contravenes the Islamic teachings.”

He said Islam had never rejected positive things from the West, noting that it had embraced Mother’s and Father’s Day.

Apparently, there is a high percentage of insular, ignorant politicians running the government in Malaysia. A characteristic, unfortunately, not limited by geography, religion or ethnicity.

Oil is thicker than water

In August last year, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was not happy with Saudi Arabia. He complained that the Saudis appeared to be funding an opposition candidate, Anwar Ibrahim, in upcoming elections.

What’s more, the Malaysian authorities suspected two senior Saudi princes of involvement. The Saudis launched an investigation, and uncovered something very different — and more alarming.

A secret report seen by CNN concludes: “There is no evidence any Saudi official ever supported Anwar Ibrahim” and “claims of support from the Saudi royals named in the initial report [names redacted] were found to be without basis.” But the investigation found that hundreds of millions of dollars of Saudi money had been funneled to leading Islamist politicians and political activists overseas. It also found that al Qaeda and the Taliban were still able to use Saudi Arabia for fund-raising, despite numerous measures to choke off those sources of cash.

According to a Saudi source who is not authorized to speak publically, “People close to the senior leadership of the Taliban live in Saudi Arabia and send money back” [to the Taliban].

Today he estimates the money reaching al Qaeda is “in the region of tens of thousands of dollars possibly hundreds of thousands…”

The problem facing Saudi authorities is huge, the source told CNN. “Eighty-six percent of all Islamic charities are based in Saudi Arabia” making “monitoring all their activities difficult.” The problem was compounded by several other factors, he said. Saudi Arabia “has the world’s fourth largest migrant workforce, 7 million legal workers, 3 million illegal.”

Many of them use unregulated Islamic Hawala money transfer banks where a deposit in one country can immediately be picked up in another with no paper trail to trace it. The Hawala networks were identified by the U.S. Treasury Department last year as a significant channel for funding the Taliban and other insurgent groups…

With friends like this, etc.. The Saudi royal family are vendors. We are customers for their oil. Not even clients.

So, please, don’t pay too much attention to high-sounding declarations of comradeship in the War on Terror. Or whatever it’s called this week.

A Scrabble fan who only began playing five years ago after discovering it online was yesterday crowned as the game’s British national champion after beating a four-time winner.

Mikki Nicholson, 32, won a nail-biting contest against Mark Nyman, who has claimed more than 20 major tournaments including the World Championship, with the 86-point word “obeisant” (respect), in the cliffhanger fifth game.

Nicholson said she caught the Scrabble bug after discovering the word game on the internet, but admitted ahe still went for days without laying a single tile.

“It was a big challenge but I wouldn’t have entered if I didn’t think I had a chance of winning,” said the transsexual from Cumbria, who was wearing a pink wig, matching plastic pvc dress and lipstick during the final, held in London…

Nicholson, who will now spend the £1,500 prize money on a trip to Malaysia to compete in December’s Causeway Scrabble Challenge, said the game required someone intuitive and good with numbers.

“People think Scrabble is just about words but it’s the numbers that win the game, so a sound mathematical brain is an advantage,” she added.

I wonder if she’ll be allowed into Malaysia to compete. After all, that nation practices theocratic bigotry as national policy. Like many others.

Prime Minister Najib Razak visiting a torched church
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

There have been more attacks on churches in Malaysia, in a growing dispute over the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims.

The police say petrol bombs were thrown at a church and a convent school in the state of Perak, and at a church in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Another church in the south of the country was daubed with black paint.

The attacks come days after four churches near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, were hit by petrol bombs.

Religious tensions in Malaysia have increased since a court ruled last month that a Roman Catholic newspaper could use the word Allah in its Malay-language edition to describe the Christian god…

Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah state are home to most of Malaysia’s Christians, who account for 9.1% of the country’s 28 million people. “The situation is under control and the people should not be worried,” Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama.

Correspondents say some of Malaysia’s majority Muslim community suspect Christians of wanting to use the word Allah to encourage Muslims to convert to Christianity.

The government has appealed against the ruling, in contrast to countries like Indonesia, Egypt and Syria where Christian minorities freely use the Arabic word to refer to God.

The question yet to be resolved is who leads the terrorist attacks on churches. Every part of the world has experienced communal violence over some localized bigotry. None are justifiable.

Flying Spaghetti Allah

A court in Malaysia has ruled that Christians have a constitutional right to use the word Allah when referring to God.

The High Court said a government ban on non-Muslims using the word was unconstitutional.

The court was ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Herald, a publication of the Catholic Church in Malaysia, in 2007. The authorities had insisted that Allah was an Islamic word which could only be used by Muslims.

The BBC’s Jennifer Pak in Kuala Lumpur said some Muslim groups suspect the Catholic Church is seeking to encourage Muslims to convert to Christianity – a move which is illegal in Malaysia…

The Herald filed for a judicial review after it was temporarily ordered to stop publishing in 2007 for referring to “Allah”.

The publication said it had been been using the word for decades, and had a constitutional right to do so.

Just one more jive problem with religion in politics.

Add politics to the scrum – and you discover yourself knee-deep in ancient effluent.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno with her son and daughter
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

A Malaysian Islamic court has upheld the caning sentence for a Muslim woman convicted of drinking beer at a hotel, local media reports have said.

If the punishment is carried out, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old mother of two, will become the first Muslim woman to be caned in the country.

She had originally been due to be caned late last month, but at the last minute the sentence was put on hold during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. At the time the government asked the Sharia High Court Appeals Panel in Kuantan, the capital of the eastern state of Pahang, to review the verdict.

But late on Monday a chief judge with the court announced that the sentence would be upheld…

Kartika, a former nurse turned part-time model, was sentenced in July to six strokes of the cane and a fine of $1,400 for drinking beer in 2007 at a beach resort…

Malaysia has a large Chinese and Indian community, but uses a dual-track legal system where sharia courts can try Muslims for religious and moral offences under Islamic law.

Alcohol is widely available in the country but is forbidden for the majority Muslim community, who make up just over half the population.

Are there any organized religions that have made it into the 20th Century – much less the 21st?

BTW – she pleaded guilty and wants the caning to be public as a warning to other Muslims.