Lawsuit in Indonesia: Prince Sues Wife

A Malaysian prince has sued his runaway Indonesian teen wife and mother-in-law.

They had claimed he had tortured the teenager during the couple's year-long marriage.

Tengku Temenggong Tengku Mohammad Fakhry, a prince in northern Kelantan state, filed a defamation suit in the High Court.

He is seeking 105 million ringgit ($30m, £18m) in damages from Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother, said lawyer Mohamad Haaziq Pillay.

The 17-year-old Ms Pinot returned to Indonesia in May and told media that the 31-year-old Mr Fakhry had slashed her with razor blades and treated her as a sex slave.

She reportedly said she was held captive in her room and drugged whenever she complained.

She allegedly escaped while accompanying the state royal family on a trip to Singapore and filed a police report in Indonesia shortly afterward.

The scandal has captured widespread media attention in both Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Fakhry's lawsuit accuses Ms Manohara and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, of concocting the allegations "out of spite" and "motivated by a desire of financial gains," the lawyer said.

link: BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Malay prince sues Indonesian wife

Portez ce Vieux Whisky

but does it float

Henry Louis Gates Arrested in Cambridge for Breaking Into his Own Home

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Colleagues of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s most prominent scholar of African-American history, are accusing the police here of racism after he was arrested at his home last week by an officer investigating a report of a robbery in progress.

Professor Gates, who has taught at Harvard for nearly two decades, arrived home on Thursday from a trip to China to find his front door jammed, said Charles J. Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard who is representing him.

He forced the door open with the help of his cab driver, Professor Ogletree said, and had been inside for a few minutes when Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department appeared at his door and asked him to step outside.

Professor Gates, 58, refused to do so, Professor Ogletree said. From that point, the account of the professor and the police began to differ.

According to his lawyer, Professor Gates told the sergeant that he lived there and showed his Massachusetts driver’s license and his Harvard identification card, but Sergeant Crowley still did not seem to believe that Professor Gates lived in the home, a few blocks from Harvard Square. At that point, his lawyer said, Professor Gates grew frustrated and asked for the officer’s name and badge number.

According to the police report, Professor Gates initially refused to show identification.

In the report, Sergeant Crowley said a white female caller had notified the police around 12:45 p.m. of seeing two black men on the porch of the home, at 17 Ware Street. The caller was suspicious after seeing one of the men “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry,” according to the report.

A spokesman for the Police Department did not return a call seeking comment. But in the report, Sergeant Crowley said that as he told Professor Gates he was investigating a possible break-in, Professor Gates exclaimed, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?” and accused the sergeant of racism.

“While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence,” Sergeant Crowley wrote in the report, “I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me.”

Professor Gates ultimately followed him outside, the report said, and kept yelling at him despite the sergeant’s warning “that he was becoming disorderly.” Sergeant Crowley then arrested and handcuffed him. Professor Gates was held at police headquarters for several hours before being released on his own recognizance.

link: Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested - NYTimes.com

Native American Gender Continuum

Berdache Jordan writes:

Many of the world’s cultures recognize more than two genders. The notion that there are those of us who do not fit precisely into either a male or female role has historically been accepted by many groups.

Among Native Americans, the role of third, fourth, or even fifth genders has been widely documented. Children who were born physically male or female and yet showed a proclivity for the opposite gender, were encouraged to live out their lives in the gender role which fit them best. The term used by Europeans to describe this phenomenon is Berdache. "Indians have options not in terms of either/or, opposite categories, but in terms of various degrees along a continuum between masculine and feminine (Williams 80)."

A berdache was one who was defined by spirituality, androgyny, women’s work and male/male homosexual relationships (127). The berdache could adopt the clothing of women, associate and be involved with women, do the work normally associated with women, marry a man and take part in many spiritual ceremonies of the tribe. Female versions of the role also occurred, but are less well documented and will not be discussed in this paper. Generosity and spirituality more than homosexuality and gender characterized berdachism.

In the traditional tribal sense, these roles have often been ones associated with great respect and spiritual power. Rather than being viewed as an aberration, the role was seen as one, which bridged the gap between the temporal and spirit worlds. The spiritual aspect of the berdache role was emphasized far more than the homosexual or gender variant aspect. Because of this, berdaches were highly valued by the people of the tribe.

Given the choice between discarding or honoring a person, who did not fit neatly into rigid gender compartments, many Native American groups chose to find a productive and venerated place for the berdache. A Crow traditionalist says, "We don’t waste people the way white society does. Every person has their gift ( 57)." According to the Mohave creation story, "Ever since the world began, there have been transvestites, and from the beginning of the world, it was meant that there should be homosexuals. (Roscoe, ed. 39)."

link: A Native American Perspective on the Theory of Gender Continuum by DRK

Morbid Anatomy Seeks Private Collections: Do You Have Any Stuffed Dogs?

Morbid Anatomy writes:

While in the UK, I have scheduled to photograph a few more of these private collections and am on the lookout for more. If anyone has any leads as to private collection that might be of interest, or has a collection of their own they would like to share, please email me at morbidanatomy@gmail.com. All suggestions appreciated! Also appreciated would be advice from Morbid Anatomy readers as to to museums, old collections, naturalia-themed shops, or any other must-see places in and around London.

link: Morbid Anatomy

Guantanamo Detainee, Now Free After Six Years, to Sue George Bush

Al-Jazeera journalist imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay to sue George Bush

Sami al-Haj – freed in May 2008 after more than six years – to launch legal action against former US president

An al-Jazeera journalist who was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay plans to launch a joint legal action with other detainees against former US president George Bush and other administration officials, for the illegal detention and torture he and others suffered at the hands of US authorities.

The case will be initiated by the Guantánamo Justice Centre, a new organisation open to former prisoners at the US base, which will set up its international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month.

link: Pan-African News Wire: Al-Jazeera Journalist Imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay to Sue George Bush

Extinct Images of Vanished Giants: BibliOdyssey

'Extinct Monsters; a Popular Account of Some of the Larger Forms of Ancient Animal Life' was first published in 1893 by Reverend HN Hutchinson, featuring illustrations by the respected wildlife artist, Joseph Smit (& others).

link: BibliOdyssey: Extinct Monsters

The Bathos of Gravity: Simon Faithfull

Jessica Griggs writes:

Since childhood, Simon Faithfull has had a problem with gravity. Why could flies crawl across the ceiling when his feet always stayed firmly earthbound?

This fascination never waned. Now an artist, his recent work revolves around his attempts to escape gravity's relentless grip.

Gravity Sucks, an exhibition at the British Film Institute in London from 17 July to 20 September, showcases all seven of Faithfull's attempts. He admits that his first "Escape Vehicles" – including a miniature rocket-powered chair and a boiler suit attached to 50 helium balloons – were "complete heroic failures, or actually not even heroic, more like damp squibs".

But this is his point – Faithfull is interested in the pathos inherent in so many human attempts to escape gravity. Flying is a common fascination for many of us, he says, but drawings of Victorian flying machines and the stories of Icarus, with his melting wax-based wings, and Franz Reichelt, the tailor who jumped to his death from the Eiffel Tower in 1912 to demonstrate his home-made parachute, seem simultaneously absurdly comic and pathetic.

link: Gravity sucks: An artist examines life's weighty side - science-in-society - 20 July 2009 - New Scientist