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2004-02-12 Afghanistan/South Asia

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Posted by Paul Moloney 2004-02-12 12:07:00 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The choice for today's activity is either to do that or to go get a job.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2004-2-12 12:22:03 AM|| 2004-2-12 12:22:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Paul Moloney---What do you do for yourself to keep your sanity after plying through the Pakistani Nutcase press stories, day after day, week after week? This must be similar to how a psychiatrist must cope when dealing with psychotics every day in a mental hospital.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-2-12 12:28:44 AM|| 2004-2-12 12:28:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 I drink. A lot.

Posted by Paul Moloney 2004-2-12 4:23:03 AM|| 2004-2-12 4:23:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Can anyone explain what the object to kite flying is based on?

Posted by Robert Crawford 2004-2-12 7:10:22 AM|| [http://www.kloognome.com/] 2004-2-12 7:10:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 They are going to meet on a windy hilltop and draw attention to their vital cause of preventing human degredation by NOT flying kites. Plus they will grab kite strings from little children and make the kites smash into the ground to teach the children about Allah's true will. What a bunch 'o repressionist retards!

I wonder if these dudes can join some of the LLL parades in Bezerkely and draw attention to the vital cause of preventing idolatry by NOT wearing giant puppet heads?

Robert C.- I have to speculate that they object to it because the sky belongs to Allah or some such 7th century crapistition. Plus kite-flying is pure idleness, just like singing or dancing or free will, so how can it be holy and just?

Posted by Craig 2004-2-12 7:23:13 AM|| 2004-2-12 7:23:13 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 You have to wonder what the anti Kite flying people do for fun.
Ali - well our anti kite gig is done for the day, what do you want to do
Mohammad - let's hang out and not play cards

Posted by mhw 2004-2-12 8:43:52 AM|| 2004-2-12 8:43:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Damn, and I just told the Pakis to go fly a kite...

Posted by Chuck Simmins 2004-2-12 8:46:06 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2004-2-12 8:46:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 You know, on second thought, it would be kinda neat to have a membership card from this group. Do you suppose they accept foreign members? You know, to be an "official" anti kite flying democrat.

Posted by Chuck Simmins 2004-2-12 8:48:07 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2004-2-12 8:48:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Kites--why do they hate us?

Posted by Dar 2004-2-12 9:39:24 AM|| 2004-2-12 9:39:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Plus kite-flying is pure idleness, just like singing or dancing or free will,

That explains why I've always been a fool for large French War Kites or large freedom kite if you're the sensitive type.

Posted by Shipman 2004-2-12 10:35:28 AM|| 2004-2-12 10:35:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 I think I know how I'll respond to this: my daughter and I will have our kites out this weekend. I'll gather a couple of her friends and we'll head out to the park, weather permitting, and get a few kites in the air. We have a nice selection here at home and we can always get another one or two. I like the little acrobatic ones myself; she's partial to the big suckers with huge, colorful tails.

Wonder if we couldn't make this a more national/international response? I'd love to see Rummy and Colin on the Mall some weekend, kite strings in hand, having a blast. Better yet have some kite flying on the White House lawn at the upcoming Easter Egg hunt. Hmmmmm ....

Posted by Steve White 2004-2-12 10:49:52 AM|| 2004-2-12 10:49:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 I saw somewhere but can't remember just where, that they objected to kite flying because they were using wire and that led to some decapitations. Don't know if that's true are not, just what I heard.

Posted by Lil Dhimmi 2004-2-12 10:50:04 AM|| 2004-2-12 10:50:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 From the Guardian:

Mr Mahmood's officials insisted the ban was motivated purely by concerns of safety. Kite flying in Pakistan is frequently more a competition than a hobby. Flyers pit their kites against each other in skilled attempts to cut their rival's strings. Bets are occasionally laid, and to gain advantage most flyers buy string which has been specially soaked in a ground-glass and occasionally ground-metal paste that hardens to make the string slice like a knife. Some even use wire strings....

But in the crowded streets of Lahore's old city, the kite strings are as much a liability as an entertainment. City officials say at least 45 people have died of kite-related injuries in the past six months. Many of them were young boys whose wire strings hit electrical power lines, causing short circuits. Occasionally motorcyclists are garrotted by fallen wire strings and dozens of kite flyers sustain serious cuts to their fingers.

But others warn there may be a darker side to the decision. Kite flying in Lahore has commonly been associated with the spring festival of Basant, when the city is cloaked in saffron-yellow and crowded with parties, dancing and celebration.

Hardline religious clerics have long railed against Basant, and the kite-flying that accompanies it, as un-Islamic. In a revealing statement presented to the courts in Lahore at the time of the kite ban, Khawaja Mohammad Afzal, the city's legal adviser, wrote: "The use of fire crackers, music and dance on such occasions is un-Islamic."

Posted by growler 2004-2-12 11:00:16 AM|| 2004-2-12 11:00:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 Oh, sure! It's for the children!

Posted by Chuck Simmins 2004-2-12 11:28:32 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2004-2-12 11:28:32 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 Boy, fighting kites in Indonesia was some of the best fun I ever remember. Sure, it created dangers, but doesn't everything? Sounds like Pakistan has a bunch of spoil sports.

Posted by cingold 2004-2-12 11:51:39 AM|| 2004-2-12 11:51:39 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 So let me get this straight, they're not worried about gun sex and falling ammo, but they consider kites too dangerous?

Posted by Rafael 2004-2-12 12:06:59 PM|| 2004-2-12 12:06:59 PM|| Front Page Top

08:47 john bragg
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