THE DAILY BLADE: If Our Troops Had Done This To Iraqis, It Would’ve Been “Torture”
Yesterday was Ashoura, the holiest day of the Shiite calendar, which commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad in a 7th-century battle near Karbala. In rituals to mark Ashoura "worshippers beat themselves with chains, slice their heads with knives and pound their chests in expressions of grief over the death of Imam Hussein," reports The Associated Press.
They Fell That Year Before A Cruel Foe
Writing in National Review Online, Anne Bayefsky, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and editor of Eye on the UN, accuses the U.N. of "provid[ing] sustenance for the Iranian genocidal threat, which is directed at Israel now, and America next." She then weaves the haunting lyrics of the song, "They Fell" into her argument that too many people have been lost to genocide, and the U.N. has done too little to stop or punish these crimes against humanity:
"They vanished from the Earth…" is how Armenian-French singer Charles Aznavour described the Armenian genocide, in which one and a half million people are reported to have died at the hands of Turkish authorities beginning in 1915. There was no U.N. then, and no U.N. resolution addressing the Armenian genocide ever since. Is it simply over? It is for Hrant Dink, the editor of Turkey's main Armenian-language newspaper, who questioned Turkey's continuing silence about the genocide and was shot dead in Istanbul last week.
It is also over for the 200,000 men, women, and children whom the U.N. failed in Bosnia-Herzegovina starting in 1992. It is over for the 800,000 that the U.N. abandoned in Rwanda in 1994. It is too late for the 500,000 already dead in Darfur, where thousands more perish every month while the U.N. continues to ruminate.
"The women fell as well, and the babies they tended, left to die, left to cry, all condemned by their birth" — the powerful words of Aznavour seek to wake us from our slumber.
Candy Is Dandy, But Vodka Is Liquor
Nearly 260 vodka brands were introduced in the U.S. from 2001 to 2006, according to market research firm Adams Beverage Group. "Swathed in purple glass, illuminated in pink, or infused with flavors like cherry vanilla, vodkas now account for about a quarter of all new hard-liquor brands, more than any other spirit," reports The Wall Street Journal.
Regular readers of this blog know that The Stiletto is an aficionado of vodka martinis, so she has strong opinions about her spirit of choice:
† The finest vodkas are distilled from wheat. Only a peasant would drink a potato vodka, like Chopin.
† Unless vodka is going to be used for a frozen concoction and garnished with an umbrella, flavored varieties are verboten. No appletinis, mangotinis or any other types of tinis, get it?
† The Stiletto always keeps her vodka in the icebox, and spritzes a chilled martini glass with a mister filled with dry vermouth before adding the vodka. (She got her mister from Wine Enthusiast.)
† The Stiletto prefers Russian Standard, when she can get it; otherwise, Grey Goose (yes, but those Frenchies happen to make a damned fine vodka). It would be sacrilege to garnish these vodkas with olives, onions or lemon peel. Leave the vodka alone.
† Vox or Skyy are The Stiletto’s vodkas of choice when she’s in the mood for a dirty martini or gorgonzola-stuffed olives (or both!).
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April 23, 2007
The Stiletto wrote:
Talk about unfortunate timing: Just as European Union diplomats were bending over backwards (or were they just bending over?) to reassure Turkey that a proposal requiring member states to criminalize "publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes" will not include the Armenian Genocide, a group of young Turkish nationalists savagely murdered three Christian employees of a bible publishing company in the name of Islam. One of the victims, German citizen Tilman Ekkehart Geske, who was 46, was buried April 20th at an Armenian cemetery in the town of Malatya, a ...
My choice for a Stiletto or for any other Martini or Vodka Signature Cocktail would be Stiletto Vodka. It is made of the finest Russian Wheat and Artisan water. It is owned by women and the company is donating proceeds to women and children causes. I had the pleasure of tasting Stiletto Vodka at a tasting in New Orleans, and it is SOOOOOOOO smooth, you would not believe it. If you haven't had the opportunity to try this vodka, do yourself a favor and go search for it. You will be thanking me later. The best tasting vodka in the World, by far!
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