Bitches Ain't Shit

Well, maybe they are, since the king of Saudi Arabia has told newspapers not to publish pictures of women in the newspapers, fearing that young men will "go astray."

In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women-- always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf-- to illustrate stories with increasing regularity. Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally accepted in Saudi Arabia — such as women having the right to drive and vote.

I can't even imagine living like this. It's so easy to take for granted the right we have as American women to shoot our mouths off about how horrible the president/governor is, how we have the right to back this smack-talk up by voting, and how lucky we are to have the ability to drive ourselves to the polls. It's frightening to think that it was less than one hundred years ago that women in this country didn't have a voice in politics. It's more frightening to think that women can be so divisive in some areas of the modern world. But, it's also flattering to women that these men are so afraid of them. What is it about women that frightens dictators so much? The fact that they're a repressed group in that culture, and history has shown that oppressed women tend to fight back eventually? The fact that, ultimately, a woman controls how many children are born? What do we do to men that gets them so upset?

Also creepy:

The king also called on editors to stop printing stories that portray the country in a negative light.

"Don't write anything that can be harmful to the country. Some reporters, they want to stand out and they end up going too far and this should not be allowed to happen," Abdullah said according to Okaz.

If you replace some key words, it sounds like this:

The president also called on editors to stop printing stories that portray the country in a negative light.

"Don't write anything that can be harmful to the country. Some reporters, they want to stand out and they end up going too far and this should not be allowed to happen," Bush said according to Snow.

Doesn't sound so unusual, does it? Stephen Colbert better watch out before they lock him up for his satiric tour-de-force at the Correspondents Dinner .