Iran Prosecutor Sees Barbie Dolls as Destructive

Same As it Ever Was



Iran has seen the face of the enemy--and it's plastic.

No, we're not talking about Nancy Pelosi; Iran's top prosecutor said imports of Barbie dolls and and other decadent Western toys will have destructive cultural and social consequences for the Islamic Republic.

Iran's conservative clerical establishment often rails against the perceived dangers of U.S.-inspired culture and consumerism, branding it "Westoxication."

But young Iranians are often keen consumers of such music, films and other goods from the West. Iconic toy brands can be bought in children's shops in the capital Tehran and elsewhere.

"The appearance of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and ... computer games and movies are all a danger warning to the officials in the cultural arena," said Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi in a letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi published in the Mardom Salari daily.

Najafabadi, a high-ranking cleric, said Iran was the world's third biggest importer of toys and suggested this posed a threat to the "personality and identity" of the new generation.

The cartoon at the beginning of this story is from October 2006: once again Cox and Forkum were ahead of the curve. The cartoon above chronicles the Saudi freak-out at the time over Barbie.

Maybe it's contagious.

by RidesAPaleHorse
image: cox and Forkum
Source: Official sees "Destructive" Barbie influence


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DBKP Today in Weird History: February 15, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, WOMEN, CITIES, ASSASSINATION, SCANDAL, EXECUTED, COMMIES, CONDIMENTS, RESCUE, SLAVERY, TREASON, TREES, TOYS, MEAT, CLIMATE, VAMPIRES, COMMIES, BEETLES, CARTOONS, FAKES, BEATLES, SPORTS, BOOTLEG, DREAMS, SERIAL KILLERS, CHESS, JEWS, POPULATION, FINANCE, CLINTONS, GLOBAL WARMING, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



WAR!

1898 USS Maine blew up in Havana harbor, touching off the Spanish-American War.

1989 More than 100,000 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan almost 10 years after the USSR invaded the country.

1918 1st WWI US army troop ship torpedoed & sunk by Germany, off Ireland.

1942 Singapore surrenders to the Japanese.

1984 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq.

TERRORISM

1993 Bombings by Mafia drug lords kill 14 in Bogotá Colombia.

DISASTER

1864 Fire in Rotterdam Netherlands damages Museum Boymans.

1898 USS Maine blows up in Havana harbor, cause unknown-258 sailors die.

1961 73 people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to Czechoslovakia, were killed in the crash of a Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 in Belgium.

1970 Dominican DC-9 crashes into sea at Santo Domingo, kills 102.

1982 Ocean Ranger oil-drilling platform lost off Newfoundland, 84 die.

1991 Freighter with dynamite explodes in Phang Nga Thailand, 120 die.

DREAMS

1967 Longest dream (REM sleep) on record, Bill Carskadon, Chicago (2:23).

VAMPIRES

1931 1st Dracula movie released.

SERIAL KILLERS

1978 Escaped mass murderer Ted Bundy recaptured, Pensacola FL.

1992 Jeffrey Dahmer found sane & guilty of killing 15 boys.

CLINTONS

1998 Monica Lewinsky's attorney, William Ginsburg, continued his harsh criticism of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for alleged leaks of information to the news media, charging on CNN that his client's constitutional rights were being trampled.

TOYS

1903 1st Teddy Bear introduced in America, made by Morris & Rose Michtom.

FINANCE

1995 Dow-Jones closes at record 3986.17

CONDIMENTS

1768 1st mustard manufactured in America advertised, Philadelphia.

BEETLES

1936 Hitler announces building of Volkswagens (starting slug-bug game).

BEATLES

1965 John Lennon passes his driving test.

BOOTLEG

1967 1st anti-bootleg recording laws enacted.

FAKES

1955 1st pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds announced.

GLOBAL WARMING

2007 National Guardsmen in Humvees ferried food, fuel and baby supplies to hundreds of motorists stranded for nearly a day on a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 78 in eastern Pennsylvania because of a monster storm.

CARTOONS

1950 Walt Disney's "Cinderella" released.

COMMIES

1933 Karl Radek praises invincible force of German communist party.

POPULATION

1995 Population of People's Republic of China hits 1.2 billion.

MEAT

1882 1st cargo of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for Britain, on SS Dunedin.

SPORTS

1956 Pirates & Kansas City A's cancel an exhibition game in Birmingham AL, because of local ordinance barring black from playing against white.

SLAVERY

1804 New Jersey becomes last northern state to abolish slavery.

JEWS

1989 Israel attacks border strip Taba near Egypt.

CLIMATE

1895 23 cm (9") of snow falls on New Orleans.

CHESS

1985 World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23.

SCANDAL

2002 Olympics officials resolved the judging scandal by awarding Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal while allowing the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to keep their medal.

TREASON

1869 Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped.

RESCUE

1851 Black abolitionists invade Boston courtroom rescuing a fugitive slave.

TREES

1876 Historic Elm at Boston blown down.

WOMEN

1879 President Rutherford Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

ASSASSINATION

1933 Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in an assassination attempt on president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami.

EXECUTED

1979 Mehdi Rahimi Iran General/military Governor of Tehran, executed.

1994 Andrei Tsjikatilo [Rostov Ripper], Russian mass murdered, executed.


CITIES

1764 St. Louis, Mo., was founded as a French fur-trading post.

COMMIES

1984 Leamon Hunt US director-General in Sinai, killed by communists.

BORN

1564 Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa.

1803 John Augustus Sutter Swiss/US colonist of California gold rush fame (New Helvetia CA, Sutter Mill).

1820 Susan Brownell Anthony Adams MA, women's suffragette.

1882 John Barrymore [Blythe], Philadelphia PA, actor (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Tempest, Beloved Rogue).

1907 Cesar Romero New York NY, actor (Joker-Batman, Ocean's 11, The Thin Man).

BIRTHDAYS

Actor Kevin McCarthy is 94. Actor Allan Arbus is 90. Country singer Hank Locklin is 90. Former Illinois Rep. John Anderson is 86. Comedian Harvey Korman is 81. Actress Claire Bloom is 77. Author Susan Brownmiller is 73. Songwriter Brian Holland is 67. Rock musician Mick Avory (The Kinks) is 64. Jazz musician Henry Threadgill is 64. Actress Jane Seymour is 57. Singer Melissa Manchester is 57. Actress Lynn Whitfield is 55. "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening is 54. Model Janice Dickinson is 53. Actor Christopher McDonald is 53. Reggae singer Ali Campbell is 49. Actor Joseph R. Gannascoli is 49. Musician Mikey Craig (Culture Club) is 48. Country singer Michael Reynolds (Pinmonkey) is 44. Actor Michael Easton is 41. Actress Renee O'Connor is 37. Actress Sarah Wynter is 35. Rock singer Brandon Boyd (Incubus) is 32. Rock musician Ronnie Vannucci (The Killers) is 32. Actress Ashley Lyn Cafagna is 25.

DEATH

1943 Thomas "Fats" Waller US jazz pianist (Hot Chocolate), dies at 38.

1973 Wally Cox actor (Mr Peepers, Hollywood Squares), dies at 48.

1984 Ethel Merman singer/actress (Kid Million), dies in her sleep at 76.

February 15, the 46th day of 2008. There are 320 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: oz
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

DBKP's Today in Weird History: February 2, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, EXHIBITS, TOILETS, POOL, RECORDS, TOYS, MEATS, SNACKS, STUNTS, NAZIs, GANGSTERS, STING, CLIMATE, CITIES, HOAX, SPORTS, ETHYL, JEWS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, ASTROLOGY, CIVIL RIGHTS, INVENTIONS, PATENTS, EXECUTION, OVERDOSE, FIRE, LIES, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH



Today is Groundhog Day.

WAR!

1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, was signed.

1943 The remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.

1944 4th US marine division conquerors Roi, Marshall Islands.

1944 Allied troops 1st set foot on Japanese territory.

TERRORISM

1968 Springer Publishers in West Berlin, bombed.

DISASTERS

1897 fire destroyed the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. (A new statehouse was dedicated on the same site nine years later.)

1998 Philippine DC-9 crashes apparently killing all 104 on board.

2003 The search continued for pieces of the space shuttle Columbia, a day after the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts.

2003 A hotel fire in northeastern China killed some three dozen people.

2003 An explosion destroyed a bank building in Lagos, Nigeria, killing at least 46 people.

2007 Tornadoes killed 21 people in central Florida.

EXHIBITS

1802 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25¢).

TOILETS

1852 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London).

POOL

1960 Michale Eufemia sinks 625 balls in pool match without a miss.

RECORDS

1926 3 men dance the Charleston for 22½ hours.

TOYS

1964 GI Joe, debuts as a popular American boy's toy.

MEAT

1880 SS Strathleven arrives in London with 1st Australian frozen mutton.

SNACKS

1993 Frito Lay pays court ordered $2,500,000 to Tom Waits for using his song, "Step Right Up".

STUNTS

1912 Frederick R Law, parachutes from Statue of Liberty (stunt for Pathe).

NAZIs

1933 2 days after becoming chancellor, Adolf Hitler dissolves Parliament.

GANGSTERS

1932 Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta GA).

STINGS

1980 FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected & public officials for bribes for political favors.

CLIMATE

1989 0ºF (-18ºC) or below in 15 US states.

CITIES

1536 The Argentine city of Buenos Aires was founded by Pedro de Mendoza of Spain.

1653 New Amsterdam — now New York City — was incorporated.

HOAX

1870 The "Cardiff Giant," supposedly the petrified remains of a human discovered in Cardiff, N.Y., was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum.

2007 A grim report from the world's leading climate scientists and government officials said that global warming was so severe, it would "continue for centuries" and that humans were to blame.

SPORTS

1876 The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in New York.

ETHYL

1923 Ethyl gasoline 1st marketed, Dayton OH.

JEWS

1957 UN adopts a resolution calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt.

ASTROLOGY

1962 8 of 9 planets align for 1st time in 400 years.

CIVIL RIGHTS

1948 President Harry Truman sent to Congress a 10-point civil rights program calling for measures against lynching, poll taxes and job discrimination.

INVENTIONS

1869 James Oliver invents the removable tempered steel plow blade.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1942 Los Angeles Times urges security measures against Japanese-Americans.

1950 1st broadcast of "What's My Line" on CBS-TV.

1988 In a speech the broadcast television networks declined to carry live, President Reagan pressed his case for aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

EXECUTION

1945 Karl F Goerdeler mayor (Leipzig)/"July 20th plot", hanged at 60.

OVERDOSE

1979 Sid Vicious [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), dies of a heroin overdose at 31

FIRE

1829 Madman Jonathan Martin sets York Cathedral afire, does £60,000 damage.

PATENTS

1892 Bottle cap with cork seal patented by William Painter (Baltimore).

LIES

1935 Lie detector 1st used in court (Portage WI).

BORN

1754 Charles-Maurice duke of Talleyrand-Périgord French bishop/premier (1815).

1861 Mehmed VI Vahideddin last sultan of Ottoman Empire (1918-22).

1882 Irish poet and novelist James Joyce was born near Dublin.

1895 George S Halas [Papa Bear], end/coach (Bears), co-founder NFL.

1905 Ayn Rand writer (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead).

2338 Data android character on Star Trek Next Generation.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Elaine Stritch is 83. Actor Robert Mandan is 76. Comedian Tom Smothers is 71. Rock singer-guitarist Graham Nash is 66. Actor Bo Hopkins is 66. Television executive Barry Diller is 66. Country singer Howard Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers) is 62. Actress Farrah Fawcett is 61. Actor Jack McGee is 59. Actor Brent Spiner is 59. Rock musician Ross Valory (Journey) is 59. Model Christie Brinkley is 54. Actor Michael Talbott is 53. Actress Kim Zimmer is 53. Rock musician Robert DeLeo (Army of Anyone and Stone Temple Pilots) is 42. Rock musician Ben Mize (Counting Crows) is 37. Rapper T-Mo is 36. Actress Lori Beth Denberg is 32. Singer Shakira is 31.

DEATH

1969 Boris Karloff [Pratt], British actor (Frankenstein), dies at 81.

1996 dancer, actor and choreographer Gene Kelly died at his Beverly Hills, Calif., home; he was 83.

February 2, the 33rd day of 2008. There are 333 days left in the year. This is Groundhog Day.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: mbnet
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



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