Malaysian Leaders of the key women's-rights group to warn Rapist Dickraise no escape

Malaysian RAPIST WATCH

Leaders of the key women's-rights groups joined congressional Democrats at the Capitol Thursday to warn that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had issued "a wake-up call" when he said the U.S. Constitution does not protect women from discrimination on the basis of gender.

The groups promised to relaunch a decades-old push to pass an Equal Rights Amendment, a movement that fizzled out in the early 1980s.

The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution proscribes laws that "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws," but Scalia recently told an interviewer that "nobody ever thought ... it meant" protection for women.

Lawmakers said Thursday that Scalia's statements suggested that his presence -- and influence -- on the Supreme Court could fundamentally threaten women's rights should a relevant case come across the docket.

"If he can convince four others to follow him, you could overturn the progress of the women's movement for the last 40 years," Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said. "That's quite a wake-up call."

As House members read through the Constitution inside, National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill flipped through a pocket-sized Constitution to read the Fourteenth Amendment.

"A man in power like Antonin Scalia insists the word 'person' does not apply to half of the population of the United States," O'Neill said. "As long as there are men in power in this country who keep women down, we need an explicit guarantee of equality in the constitution."

Lawmakers and advocates said that guarantee should come in the form of an Equal Rights Amendment. A version of such an amendment has been around for decades, and fell just three states shy of ratification after being passed by the House and Senate in 1972.

The amendment could have a better chance now, said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), its sponsor in the upper chamber.

"If we look at the political realities of the number of women in this country, they can clearly create a powerful movement for ratification in the states," he said.

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said timing is particularly important as Republicans set their eye on budget cuts that would threaten programs such as Social Security, which more women than men depend on as a safety net.

"The need to clarify this is very important as you look at women at the lower end of the economic spectrum" she said. "We're going to see this Congress tinker with the safety net in a way that will have a have a disparate affect on women."

The 75-year-old mother-in-law of the advocate general of Punjab was found murdered in her house on Thursday. While the police suspect Gurbal Maninder Mann was raped before she was killed, the gory incident has sent shockwaves throughout the city that saw violence after the body of five-year-old Khushpreet Singh was discovered on Thursday.

The police said that mother-in-law of the acting advocate general, who lived alone in her house, was smothered to death. They said they will wait for forensic and post mortem report before affirming rape. The body was lying semi-nude in the bedroom, which was locked from inside.

The body had decomposed and there was no sign of forced entry. Cops say the crime possibly took place five days ago and appears to be the handiwork of more then two men. The incident came to light when advocate general Rupinder Khosla landed at Mann's house to celebrate the birthday of his daughter, who had come from the US and was to return on January 8. The house was recently whitewashed with paint material strewn all over the place.

No matter what else may have happened during this turbulent decade, i can't think of a better word than 'transgressions' to sum it up. Thank you, Tiger Woods!

There are just so many transgressions that were committed during these 10 years, it's hard to pick the key ones. But i would say, the biggest have taken place because of a single monster that changed the world and got several top dogs into serious trouble — technology. Take Tiger's example. Had the golfer not goofed up by sexting his assorted mistresses, he'd still be making lolly by the bucketload, endorsing premium products and services. Plus, continue his adulterous romps in bed — undetected! It was Tiger's naughty habit of sending sexually explicit text messages that eventually did him in. Tiger was not alone.

Countless rakes the world over must be kicking themselves for being careless in their intimate communications. Social networking sites have their uses. But the downside of such instant connectivity is equally daunting. Office romance, anyone?

In India, Lalu Prasad had the best plan ever when he came up with the 'internet free Bihar' proposal. How smart is that? Lalu obviously wanted to adapt the China model and keep his folks in the dark ages. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him. But so what? He made serious money, regardless. And I am sure, 'Chalu Lalu' didn't leave incriminatory smses to his Shrimati Rabri Devi, or anybody else's shrimati, either.

We love our scams and scandals, and are entirely shock-proof when it comes to corruption in high places. But even blasé Indians were in for a shock when Ramalingam Raju pulled his mighty trick on investors, sending shock waves through the financial world. Once again, technology played a key role. It struck, and how. All those Satyam records, electronically stored! It was a cakewalk for investigating agencies. Never mind that a few months later, Raju's fate interested nobody. Last heard, he'd turned into an investment guru in the clink and was making rich men out of fellow convicts by giving them share market tips.

Our dishiest minister, Shashi Tharoor, found himself in a bit of a spot with yet another techno creation — Twitter. But at least, he provided the chattering classes with a new tag to play around with — cattle class. Overnight, travelling cattle class became cool! But you can't keep 'tweeple' down for long. Thank God, Tharoor is back at it. The pace is less furious, the content, more tepid. But cattle class has acquired a new edge, thanks to him.

Rahul G is the only New Age neta to come into his own in the past decade ... and he suddenly grew up before our astonished eyes. From Rahul Baba, he metamorphosed into a Youth Leader everybody is taking seriously. He refused to tweet or blog and is not on facebook so far, but cyberspace can't get enough of India's prime minister-in-waiting. Google the guy and your mind will boggle. Rahul's emphasis on grassroots development combined with his penchant for spending nights on khatiyas in villages across India, have created a persona that is working big time with the aam aadmi. An excellent strategy that is being cleverly promoted across websites, making him the biggest icon to woo those fickle, Attention Deficit Syndrome-afflicted kids — bigger even than the 'sexiest man alive' — the dopey-eyed Ranbir Kapoor.

Bollywood has not lagged behind when it comes to exploiting techno tools. Today, it's all about racking up weekend numbers at the box office, and how better to do that than to get the cyberworld into the act? It takes the genius of an Aamir Khan to maximize the promotional potential of a new movie by using multi-media platforms to the hilt. Aamir is no 'idiot', that much i can vouch for. Taking a cue from the smartest man in Bollywood, other film-makers are stretching their techno skills as well. Gone are the days of oily Bollywood publicists peddling juicy 'scoops' to plug the next blockbuster. Today, promos have gone hi-tech. Electronic penetration is everything.

Reality television altered the rules of the game and toppled a formidable Ekta Kapoor from her perch as 'Soap Opera Queen'. Who would have thought such a thing would happen. Once again, it's the thrill provided by interactivity that viewers fell for. Nothing could match the kick of calling in and speaking to mighty stars, dancing and singing with their favourites or having the power to decide the winner in a contest. Technology had struck (a chord) yet again.

'My name is Google' could well be the title given to this hectic decade. Without Google, there is nothing. At the beginning was the word, acquired a different meaning as PCs and laptops became our new BFFs (Best Friends Forever). In this hypnotic and seductive virtual world, there was no space left for human relationships of the pre-facebook kind. If you were not on facebook, you did not exist. Romances, proposals, propositions, even divorces via facebook! Tweens lived out their confused lives on similar sites. Technology ruled this decade, wokay? But you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim refuted allegations of rape that have been made against him and described them as ‘wild allegations’ consisting of ‘libellous statements of awful, ugly and wicked lies’.

Methinks he doth protest too loudly.

He said, “I refute the allegations, whether they are about raping any individual four years ago (2007) or any other allegation, raised by bloggers on the Internet or by any political entity”.

He challenged those who had made those allegations with “I state readily that any report by anyone so far related to this matter should be investigated under the country's laws”.

Twenty years ago, politicians who commit a crime, would have escaped justice. But not any more.

These days, we are more determined and more focused in wanting to get rid of politicians who are not there to serve the public but who get elected merely to serve themselves. Especially those who are criminals and who then lord it over us.

Rais is like the hunted. Now he knows what it is like to be at the mercy of others.

He wants to be believed Just like the girl who was raped and who tried to get people to understand what had happened to her.

In 2007, when the rape was reported to Migrant Care, that non-governmental organization asked for a thorough investigation into the allegations of rape. But they were ignored.

The then Prime minister Abdullah Badawi received a copy of the report as did his deputy, Najib Abdul Razak.

Three years later, the calls for the rape to be investigated are repeated. It reappeared on a blogger’s site on 23 December.

What did Rais do?

Nothing.

What did Najib do?

Nothing.

What was the reaction of the Cabinet?

Nothing.

Rais must feel that his past is catching up with him.

Instead of doing the right thing, Najib chooses to bury his head in the sand.

The cabinet act like headless chickens and pretend that nothing is wrong.

No one likes to be associated with someone who is responsible for a heinous crime. Surely members of the Cabinet and especially his closest buddies, would have advised their colleague to refute the allegations as soon as it surfaced.

Failing that, they would have either, as individuals or as one collective voice, issued a statement to support their colleague and uphold his character.

But they failed to do both.

What is worse, is that the leader of the Cabinet, Najib himself did nothing of the sort.

We do not hear anything from his closest family members or even his wife.

Will nobody stand up for this man?

That is why it is possible that Najib has hung Rais Yatim out to dry.

A tainted man does not win votes.