OK, ok, we're sure there are some sweet and wonderful people in Saudi Arabia. It's just that we're worried about all the others. And we keep hearing about them:

Item One

"TWO teachers in Saudi Arabia who were sentenced to jail and flogging after angering the kingdom's Muslim scholars have received a royal pardon.

... Mohammad al—Suhaimi, who had been sentenced to three years in jail and 300 lashes after being accused of encouraging homosexuality and adultery, was freed after all charges against him were dropped. ... Mr Suhaimi said he had angered conservative (sic!) colleagues by telling students that love was noble, and that it was better to love than fear God."

Item Two

"King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia should take urgent steps to ensure that a court sentence to gouge out a migrant worker's eye is not carried out, Human Rights Watch said today.

 The Greater Shari`a Court of Dammam sentenced Puthan Veettil `Abd ul—Latif Noushad, an Indian citizen, to be punished by having his right eye gouged out in retribution for his role in a brawl in April 2003 in which a Saudi citizen was injured. A court of appeal in Riyadh has reportedly merely asked whether the Saudi man would accept monetary compensation instead.  
 
"This literal eye—for—an—eye sentence is torture masquerading as justice," said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East division. "King Abdullah must prevent the imposition of corporal punishment in violation of the country's obligations under international law."  

No comment is needed.

Just one thing. Those "conservative" Saudis who favor whipping as a punishment for teaching about love, are not the least bit conservative. They are primitive reactionaries, even in the context of Islam. They are cultural throwbacks, who have now become a worldwide threat because Westerners discovered oil in the desert many decades ago.

Hardly any Anglo—American conservatives are trying to get back to the 7th century. The Americans would have to dress in feathers and animal hides, and the British Conservatives would have to paint themselves blue and run around naked. That's reactionary, like the back—to—nature Left ——— not conservative.

It would be nice if the press got their political labels straight.