taking the second road ...

I've got to tell you - when I first saw this headline I thought I would be writing about how CNN has their collective lips locked onto the Presidents rump .... or how the story was nothing but fluff geared to appease their overly liberal audience, the majority of whom are liberal.

But instead I ran into this paragraph first:

Why Michelle Obama inspires women around the globe - CNN.com:

"The women she meets in the squalid streets where 'Slumdog Millionaire' was filmed are often treated with contempt, she says. They're considered ugly if their skin and hair are too dark. They are deemed 'cursed' if they only have daughters. Many would-be mothers even abort their children if they learn they're female."

wow - what a shock - I always considered India one of those enlightened countries who treated women and men nearly the same .... I mean not exactly the same - I'm not sure there is a nation like that, but closer than most 'thrid' world countries**.

After all this is the country that had PM Indira Ghandi to their credit ... they have had the likes of Mother Teresa in their country for years - I would have thought she would have spoken out against it had there been issues there, after all no one could ever accuse Mother Teresa of being quiet on a cause of the Indian people.

I used to think they had a very female-heavy religion .... but you know what? I did some checking before writing this up and I was wrong. Most of their gods are male ... but they seem to have a very 'feminine' look to them, easy enough to get them mixed up with my American eyes (boys look like this, girls look like that ... boys: square jaws, girls ... slender faces) .... hmmmm ...

but then Hinduism isn't the only male oriented religion in the world who seems to have influenced the people who follow it into 'wacky' beliefs - Lord knows that christianity has seen its own fair share, maybe even more than its fair share - but still I always thought India was much more enlightened.

wow -- I've never been a big one on Women's Lib .... in fact I think it has caused many a problem for women ... when was the last time you heard of a husband suggesting his wife stay home instead of working 10 hr shifts at minimum wage ((of course in these economic times, a second income can be the difference between independence and the bread-line)) ... it seems that unless a woman is a Lady of the upper crust, she will be expected to work her whole life. It used to be that when a woman became a widow that she would continue to receive the benefits of her husband - now they expect you to have them on your own.

oops- slipping away .... I've never been one for Women's Lib - but I guess there are still some nations out there that really, really need it! I say we do some exporting to these countries ....

destroy a life just because of its sex ....

nothing like keeping a balanced population ...

how sad.


**bit of a tangent .... what is with the term "third world'? I have often wondered -- growing up I thought it meant any nation that didn't chose sides in WW2, that there was the Axis world, the Allied world, and the third world.

now I'm not so sure .... it is applied to countries that weren't even "in existance" during WW2 ....

and anyways - where is the 'second world' countries? I know that countries such as US, UK, Russia, and China are considered major countires/powers .... that they can be (or at least used to be) called upon for major help around the world....

but stil if they are First country, and Indonesia is a Third world country .... where the hell are the 'Second world' countries?

Are those places like Australia, Norway, Brazil, etc --- big countries which are independant but can sustain themselves?