Althouse: "Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women..."

April 30, 2010

"Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women..."

"... handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged 'immodest.'"

73 comments:

TMink said...: Once again, the wisdom of the UN is breath taking.

Trey; 4/30/10, 8:31 AM
Anonymous said...: the influential human rights body

Evidently not.; 4/30/10, 8:33 AM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: And don't forget that before a virgin can be hanged for some crime or impropriety, she has to be raped first to make sure she doesn't go to heaven.

Toy; 4/30/10, 8:41 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: I thought this was an Onion headline at first.

Can somone give me one single rationale reason why we should continue participating in this joke of an organization?; 4/30/10, 8:41 AM
Beta Conservative said...: In related news, MSNBC just reported that Jeffrey Dahmer was posthumously elected to the newly formed UN Commission on Sustainable Food Supplies.; 4/30/10, 8:43 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Your tax dollars at work.; 4/30/10, 8:44 AM
SteveR said...: That more or less ensures the Status of Women will be bad.; 4/30/10, 8:54 AM
2yellowdogs said...: "he influential human rights body"

I think not. With whom are they influential? How can anyone take an Onion-worthy operation like this seriously?; 4/30/10, 9:00 AM
AllenS said...: Out of New York, now!; 4/30/10, 9:01 AM
prairie wind said...: It's the United Nations. Why is anyone surprised?; 4/30/10, 9:06 AM
kjbe said...: The president should be speaking out against this.

I should hope so, too.; 4/30/10, 9:08 AM
mariner said...: Get the U.S. out of the U.N., then get the U.N. out of the U.S.; 4/30/10, 9:13 AM
Anonymous said...: I would never want my girls to grow up in a society like Iran. This is the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, however, not the "Western Democracies Commission on the Status of Women." Societies like Iran should be represented on U.N. Commissions -- but that is why U.N. Commissions should have absolutely no say or authority over us, and we should take their recommendations with a grain of salt.; 4/30/10, 9:13 AM
MadisonMan said...: Don't they need someone to represent the 12th century on the Commission?; 4/30/10, 9:14 AM
Anonymous said...: What's wrong with having some diversity on the commission?; 4/30/10, 9:18 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Bring them into the discussion. Let's have that long international conversation about sex.; 4/30/10, 9:21 AM
Scott M said...: Words fail...again...; 4/30/10, 9:22 AM
AllenS said...: This has nothing to do about sex. It's all about gender.; 4/30/10, 9:28 AM
jrberg3 said...: You guys are missing the point. This is obviously an attempt by the UN to bring the world's earthquake problem to an end.

They should be commended for their insight into the growing problem of scantily clad earthquake causing women!; 4/30/10, 9:38 AM
Shanna said...: WTF is wrong with these people?; 4/30/10, 9:40 AM
Alex said...: Yet we're constantly harangued by the lefties about how wondrous the UN is.; 4/30/10, 9:40 AM
Alex said...: Oh and it's a Faux News story - so I don't believe anyways. Even if it was true, it's just Faux News spin. I'm sure Iran really isn't theocratic. Hell the south is far more theocratic with all those Pentacostal types.; 4/30/10, 9:41 AM
Calypso Facto said...: Maybe the Iranians will use the position to gain understanding of the issues, broaden narrow religious perspectives, and foster internal dialogue.

Ha ha ha ha! Sometimes I crack me up.; 4/30/10, 9:46 AM
Joe said...: Bring them into the discussion. Let's have that long international conversation about sex.

That's a nice sentiment but:
1) Conversations with Authoritarians don’t do much good. You can talk to Mussolini or Pinochet all you want, but in the end, talking just gets you blue in the face. And it’s not a “conversation” if all that is said, is “Momyn’s ankles and hair are not evil” “yes, they are” “No, they’re not” “Yes they are…” ad infinitum.
2) Beyond that, you don’t even get THAT conversation, because many “feminists” in this country and the West are terrified of being seen as allied with those “awful people” i.e., Conservative or Republicans, and the like, so they will never even start a conversation with “Momyn’s ankles and hair are not evil” , because to do so would be to side with the Running Dog Lackeys of Monopoly Finance Capitalism and Imperialism who seek to deny the People of Colour Their Proper Place Within the World’s Socio-Economic System Thru the Use of Force, Structural/Agenda Violence and Cultural Imperialism, which seeks to impose the West’s Oppressive hetero-Normal values on the “Other.”
3) Instead we’ll hear, Iran: “The US oppresses womyn” US/Western Nations: “Yes, yes it does, it is scandalous that womyn only make $0.79 to a man’s $1. We call on the United States to rectify this injustice.”
THAT’S the “conversation” we’ll get.; 4/30/10, 9:48 AM
policraticus said...: Irony. It can be pretty ironic sometimes.; 4/30/10, 9:53 AM
george said...: Now that representatives from the 7th century have sent their emissary too the UN I guess we can save all of that money we had budgeted for time machine R&D.; 4/30/10, 10:03 AM
Tibore said...: What's that line about history repeating itself? The first time as tragedy (Iran enshrining the second-class, medieval treatment of women in the days of Khomeni's takeover), the second time as farce (the UN enshrining Iran's second-class, mideval treatment of women by appointing Iran, of all nations, to the Commision on the Status of Women)?

Christ.

There's only one reason you'd bring Iran onto that commision: As a defendant. Problem is, that's not what the UN is doing.; 4/30/10, 10:20 AM
Beth said...: Let's have that long international conversation about sex.

We could do that without them having a vote.; 4/30/10, 10:46 AM
GMay said...: The only surprising thing about this is our continued presence in this Third-World-Bitching-at-the-First-World forum.; 4/30/10, 10:56 AM
John Cunningham said...: Note that our UN ambassador did not speak one word of opposition. Note also the silence of the so-called "feminists" who in actuality are stooges of the Obama admin.; 4/30/10, 10:59 AM
Unknown said...: Buckle down the seismometers, it looks like Boobquake will be going global.

Tibore said...

What's that line about history repeating itself? The first time as tragedy (Iran enshrining the second-class, medieval treatment of women in the days of Khomeni's takeover), the second time as farce (the UN enshrining Iran's second-class, mideval treatment of women by appointing Iran, of all nations, to the Commision on the Status of Women)?

Christ.

No, Marx. He was right occasionally, much like the proverbial stopped clock.; 4/30/10, 11:04 AM
former law student said...: I'm pretty sure there are women in Iran. Or are people concerned that countries like the Netherlands will start requiring the burqa, once they're exposed to Iranian influence via the commission?

I am a bit surprised that the commentariat here would object to stoning, ordained as it was by THE LORD as punishment for various sins. Perhaps folks here are not as fundamentalist as I thought.; 4/30/10, 11:13 AM
SteveR said...: FLS: The New Covenant takes stoning off the table along with a few other things, that's why its real important.; 4/30/10, 11:21 AM
Joe said...: I'm pretty sure there are women in Iran.
And if Iran were a part of the OECD, or NATO, or applied for Most Favoured Nation Status in terms of trade, well we’d all be “Appalled, APPALLED at the condition of womyn in Iran.” But as they are a non-member of any Western Economic/Security Organization but are instead opposing the Imperialist West and its Zionist Crusader State, then it’s practices of stoning womyn or hanging them for fighting off rapists is merely a “cultural artifact” and therefore none of our business. Unlike if they were allied with the West, when the womyn of Iran would be oppressed if they didn’t have access to the basic Human Right of Travel and Vacation. But if you want to propagate some kind of moral equivalence between the West and Iran, feel free.

Or are people concerned that countries like the Netherlands will start requiring the burqa, once they're exposed to Iranian influence via the commission?
No I think we’re worried that they’ll have to wear the burqua because violent Muslim extremists wish to impose Shari ‘a Law on ALL nations.; 4/30/10, 11:33 AM
Joe said...: I am a bit surprised that the commentariat here would object to stoning, ordained as it was by THE LORD as punishment for various sins.

Well you should be everyone KNOWS that Conservatives are all about stoning people and the theocracy!

I mean look at Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, and their followers...stoning people all the time! And those Baptists, don't even get me started...

Yes Sirree Bob, FLS nice moral equivalence job there....Moral Majority=The Guardianship Council of Iran.; 4/30/10, 11:43 AM
jeff said...: And here I was about to make a bad joke about Jeremy,FLS, Alpha etc coming in to defend this. Decided not to, since the idea is ridicules. And then FLS posted. Satire is dead.; 4/30/10, 11:46 AM
jeff said...: "I am a bit surprised that the commentariat here would object to stoning, ordained as it was by THE LORD as punishment for various sins. Perhaps folks here are not as fundamentalist as I thought."

Other than Iran, what examples of stoning have you seen to come up with such a idiotic conclusion?; 4/30/10, 11:48 AM
former law student said...: Deuteronomy 22:22 If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

Muslims are about the only folks still carrying out THE LORD's commandments.; 4/30/10, 12:02 PM
Joe said...: Muslims are about the only folks still carrying out THE LORD's commandments.
Didn't realize yu were Druish FLS, I mean JEWISH...

Of course the Jews aen't stoning a lot of people, either these days.

But pray continue...Jews, Christians hae stoning....Iranians PRACTICE IT TODAY...but I see how the US=Iran.

You make my point, there's no "conversation" here possible...The Mullahs and FLS will just point out "You do it too or worse."

So FLS is all bent out of shape about a THEORETICAL fundamentalism, here, but not so much about an ACTUAL one, not-here.; 4/30/10, 12:08 PM
Known Unknown said...: "I am a bit surprised that the commentariat here would object to stoning, ordained as it was by THE LORD as punishment for various sins. Perhaps folks here are not as fundamentalist as I thought."

I think this is satire.; 4/30/10, 12:16 PM
Cedarford said...: "TMink said...
Once again, the wisdom of the UN is breath taking"

This is the organization that liberals keep telling us is invested in supreme moral authority?
The place that they told us had America as the bad guys defying the Great General Secretary Kofi Annan - who know best what US foreign policy should be?
The all-wise Kofi?

Iran on the Woman's panel is par for the course.

In other new, the UN admitted that very little of the 700 million they got for Haiti relief after the Haitian earthquake would go to Haitians. Money the UN said that they needed to spend to rebuild UN buildings and other UN infrastructure in the country - and feed and properly house UN officials monitoring the work of nations and charities actually helping the Haitians. And for Santo Dominican hotels and flights into Haiti by UN officials who prefer to visit and make their reports on Haiti from a better remote location.; 4/30/10, 12:16 PM
gpm said...: History as tragedy and then farce.

Yes, Marx, in "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon."

--gpm; 4/30/10, 12:17 PM
ricpic said...: Just as Buffalo is the home office of winter the UN is the home office of dhimmitude.; 4/30/10, 12:30 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: You guys are missing the point. This is obviously an attempt by the UN to bring the world's earthquake problem to an end.

My bet is that this will win the thread.; 4/30/10, 12:31 PM
JAL said...: Husband and I were musing the other day about what someone with an ego as big as the universe and heavy into bullying who became POTUS could possibly do after being POTUS.

We came up with the UN Secretary General slot. I mean speeches just won't be enough. It's about having and abusing power for everyone's (else's, that is) good.

So this is the plan: In 2013 BHO is appointed Sec General of the UN. And the US disinvites the UN and sends them packing to Geneva or Paris or Dubai. (Who wants it?)

We quit. And life is better.

The UN then will devolve further into an echo chamber of evil. And they can (and will) kill each other off.

Fantasy is one of my favorite literary forms.; 4/30/10, 12:42 PM
JAL said...: NOW is so then.; 4/30/10, 12:44 PM
TMink said...: "Can somone give me one single rationale reason why we should continue participating in this joke of an organization?"

Ummm, cause we are anti-semites? Seems like the UN is NAMBLA for anti-semites.

Trey; 4/30/10, 1:00 PM
TMink said...: fls wrote: "Muslims are about the only folks still carrying out THE LORD's commandments."

No, Muslims just stone the woman.

Trey; 4/30/10, 1:03 PM
JAL said...: Solution to Problem of the UN; 4/30/10, 1:06 PM
Christian said...: As dumb as this is, I actually think they do it to try to force these countries not to be so abominable. It's hard to chair a prestigious organization (the world looks to the UN, even if we don't) and then be 100% hypocritical about it.

I don't think women will have a great time in Iran now, but I think it will have some impact. It would certainly have more impact than if Iran was left out of the committee and were just brow beaten by the good guys.; 4/30/10, 1:11 PM
prairie wind said...: In 2013 BHO is appointed Sec General of the UN.

In 2013 BHO is annointed Sec General of the UN.

You had a typo.; 4/30/10, 1:14 PM
JAL said...: REASON with Pics.

Roll over pics for captions.; 4/30/10, 1:14 PM
JAL said...: Ooops. Sorry about that prairie.; 4/30/10, 1:15 PM
Joe said...: actually think they do it to try to force these countries not to be so abominable. Care to point out where this has happened?; 4/30/10, 1:16 PM
Joe said...: Is it your belief, Christian, that places like Iran really know they’re being “bad,” in their hearts and merely need to be led into the light? Get a clue, they do what they do, because they think they’re right! They think that people who don’t behave as they do, are WRONG. There’s no shame in them….is there shame in the US because of Capital Punishment (which I oppose)?

No, the States and the Federal Government don’t think killing criminals is wrong and putting us on a Human Rights Panel isn’t suddenly going to make us stop killing criminals, because in our hearts we knew we were wrong, but now we can’t stand the hypocrisy. We’d keep executing them because we think it’s Good Public Policy.

The Iranian Government thinks its treatment of womyn is Good Public Policy. They are going to take this opportunity to support their Good Public Policy and bash their critics! I’m not a Multi-Culturalist or a Moral Equivalent sort of guy, here (US=Iran)…but it’s fairly clear that your position is a flawed one, based on poor knowledge or wishful thinking. Iran isn’t going to change a Blessed thing about how it treats it’s womyn, because they are in a public forum.; 4/30/10, 1:24 PM
Phil 314 said...: Off topic but relates to UN. A recurrent point in the health care debate was the "ranking" of the US as compared to other countries. It was a 2000 WHO ranking that was at the core of many of those comments.

Well the editor of that report speaks up; 4/30/10, 3:44 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: 'Can somone give me one single rationale reason why we should continue participating in this joke of an organization?"

Because if we leave the U.N. the Demos won't be able to whine about not getting U.N. approval before doing something.

Wait, that would be a good thing!; 4/30/10, 4:06 PM
GMay said...: fls whishes he could compose satire that good. Sadly, it's just more of his usual stupidity on display.

Hey FLS, which Testament does Deuteronomy belong to?

Bonus question: What's the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament to Christians?

I'm not even Christian and I know this most basic of information that torpedos your non-argument.

Get back to flipping burgers.; 4/30/10, 4:47 PM
Fen said...: just a simple offering of Earth and Water; 4/30/10, 6:02 PM
Big Mike said...: I think Iran stones women for the crime of being raped. Or perhaps they just hang them.; 4/30/10, 6:14 PM
Fen said...: The president should be speaking out against this

The Diversity Hire took 8 days to respond to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Something about a new teleprompter.

Makes us miss Bill Clinton. What's he up to these days? Maybe he could swing by the Oval and fix this disaster of a Presidency...?; 4/30/10, 6:20 PM
Fen said...: ..and, ya know, maybe hang around the Situation Room for awhile. About 3 years.

Hell, he can even staff it with all the interns he wants.; 4/30/10, 6:27 PM
Penny said...: Iran may not change it's mind about a single thing, but I suspect if that's the case, nine other countries may change their minds about Iran.; 4/30/10, 8:25 PM
prairie wind said...: Hey FLS, which Testament does Deuteronomy belong to?

The Jews have no use for the New Testament and they don't stone adulterers, so something else must be going on. Some religions encourage adherents to figure out which teachings make sense. This is not true in other religions--global warming, for example.; 4/30/10, 8:37 PM
traditionalguy said...: The biggest issue in the Muslim world is the status of the breed of livestock we call women. If they ever lose control over the breeding livestock, then the future of Muslim men is threatened. You thinkers should have figured out by now why a Muslim possessing the Bible is a death penalty offense. The Bible shows men's and women's true identities in God's eyes.; 4/30/10, 8:44 PM
Steve M. Galbraith said...: To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
Barack Obama, Inaugural Address

Realism, they call it.

See, even if they oppress their own people - women, minorities, the "other" - we can still trust them to deal with us.

It's one thing to work with dictators because you have to; quite another because you just don't really care.; 4/30/10, 9:39 PM
Cindy Martin said...: Let's see...

-The UN oil for food scandal.

-Un soldiers raped women and girls in the Congo.

-The UN gave Hezbollah the positions of Israeli soldiers during the war.

-Sudan on the UN human rights commission

-the UN spending most days making resolutions against Israel.

-and now this??

How can anyone take this organization seriously.; 4/30/10, 11:28 PM
Revenant said...: At times like this, I reflect on the fact that most Americans support the UN... and I despair.; 4/30/10, 11:59 PM
Fen said...: I reflect on the fact that most Americans support the UN... and I despair.

They type of Americans that support the UN only do so because it feels cool to "support" of human rights, feeding Africa, etc without having to actually do anything of consequence.

They are the idiots that sing "I believe in World Peace".; 5/1/10, 12:13 AM
Revenant said...: They type of Americans that support the UN only do so because it feels cool to "support" of human rights, feeding Africa, etc without having to actually do anything of consequence.

Yeah, I know. That's the cause of the aforementioned despair. We live in a democracy, and I've probably sneezed more brain cells than the average person uses to think about politics.; 5/1/10, 3:29 AM
traditionalguy said...: Notice that at the Muslim UN the administrator of women is always a man because only the propriatary can dispose of the rights , haha, haha, that are allowed to obediant members of the Women Tribe.; 5/1/10, 5:12 PM
CW said...: Women DO have rights in Iran. They can wear any burqa they want.; 5/1/10, 8:19 PM
~~Just Me in T~~ said...: SATIRE

http://just-me-in-t.blogspot.com/2010/05/just-rumour.html

As the New Headquarters of the UN will be home to the world stable governing body, know as the NWO, it will be built of the finest, most modern building materials, be earthquake proof, volcano proof, and contain the most technologically advanced accoutrements such as geothermal heating.

After all, if one is going to rule the world, mandate universal vaccination schemes, implement global taxation, force Codex regulations on every continent and manage the world's Carbon Taxation, one must have en ediface truly magnificient and suitable.; 5/8/10, 5:48 AM