My parents, to their eternal credit, raised their daughters (my younger sister and I) to be independent, self-sufficient women.  Whatever we set out to do was doable if we worked hard and believed in ourselves.  We would never have to rely on anyone to provide for us.  Oh yeah - and we (like our parents) are never shy about sharing our opinions on the issues - something my poor liberal mother now regrets and she now has 2 very conservative daughters!
 
Needless to say, as a result of our upbringing, I look at religion - especially Islam - from a decidedly feminist point of view!  That is one reason why this column resonated with me.
 
"The clothes that women wear, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are a powerful political statement about where they're at; about the amount of freedom, self-esteem or independence they possess."

That is a very true statement.  All I have to do is to look at my own wardrobe over the years - as I struggled with my own self esteem issues.  When my self esteem was at it's lowest, I wore lots of dull drab colors and clothing that allowed me to "blend in" with the world around me.  As my self confidence grew, I started wearing brighter colors and designs - clothing guaranteed to capture the attention of passers-by.  My clothing choices have never been immodest, by any means, but I do dress to impress when needed.  All that said, I agree 100% with the statement;
 
"The veil, and the full-length gown, the jilbab, is a form of dress that deliberately makes women undesirable by hiding their form and their features. It desexualises and disempowers; worse still, it implies that women must cover up to prevent tempting men, thereby removing from men any need to take responsibility for their actions."
 
I know that there are many who claim that they have "chosen" to wear the jilbab, but if it were a true choice, then we would not have the honor killings of girls who choose to not wear traditional garb or those who try to leave Islam, would we?
 
I think author Salman Rushdie says it best (in response to the Jack Straw controversy);
 
"Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there's not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends who would have accepted wearing the veil.
"I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I'm completely on [Straw's] side. "
 
The discussions that we are having are long overdue.  If we are going to live in a "peaceful" world, then the followers of Islam need to pick sides.  You need to cast your lot with the radicals or with the West.  If you choose to cast  your lot with the West, then you need to speak up (as Mr. Rushdie has done many times) against those that wish to return the whole world to their version of paradise - a 1st century paradise where men ruled and women were chattel.

Just when you thought that the left couldn't be more intolerant, they prove you wrong...
 
"Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry.”
Roberts wrote in the online publication on September 19, 2006, "When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these ba**ards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.”  (emphasis mine)
 
War crimes trials for those who are skeptical of their apocolyptic vision of global environmental disaster?  A climate Nuremberg???  To say that this statement is "over the top" is to minimize the fanaticism of the environmental/animal rights lobby.  People like this worship at the alter of environmentalism and are worse than the Islamic fascists that threaten us.  The reason that I say they are worse (I do not make this claim lightly) is because of how mainstream environmental "studies" have become.  The last 3 generations have been taught that mankind is the worst thing to happen to Mother Earth ever and that we are the sole cause of every damage that has ever been done to the Earth.  Now I would not be so impertinant as to suggest that mankind has not done damage to the environment, but I will say that we are not the sole cause of all damage.  Remember Mt. St. Helens last eruption?  The damage to the area surrounding Mt. St. Helens was catastrophic and ash from the eruption was deposited in 11 states (ash was found as far away as Minnesota).  Mudflows from Mt. ST. Helens killed millions of fish when their hatcheries were destroyed by the debris.  Elk and deer were killed and crops were lost.  Was all of this caused by man?  No - it was a natural act.  It is said that the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD79 was even larger and it did even more environmental damage.  I can guarantee you there were no internal combustion engines in AD79!
 
Given that Mother Nature has done just as much damage to Mother Nature as mankind has, wouldn't you say that this kind of rhetoric is uncalled for?
 
Most important is this.  The organization that employs the person calling for Nurenburg style "war crimes" trials for the global warming skeptics is supported by former Vice President Al Gore and PBS pundit Bill Moyers!  These two are supposedly representatives of the modern Democratic Party.  This means, this could come to fruition should the day come when their wing of the Democratic Party regains power in Washington DC.  Are you ready to give them the reins of power?

No not Halloween, but the season for the banning of Christmas and Christmas celebrations in schools and the public square. Whether it is banning red and green from "Winter Celebrations" to Christmas carols to renaming Christmas lights secularists have long sought to remove Christ from Christmas. This year the play "A Penguin Christmas" was cancelled by a Port St. Lucie elementary school school because it contained the word Christmas!

"For more than a week, Mary Anne Bender helped her 10-year-old daughter learn her Christmas pageant lines and daydream about what costume she'd sew for the after-school play at Windmill Point Elementary.
But on the second day of practice, fifth-grader Kayla Vance was told she can't play Mrs. Claus in A Penguin Christmas because the principal has axed any mention of the word "Christmas" in holiday festivals."

Organizations like the Rutherford Institute have long been fighting such unconstitutional acts of censorship in the public square. Berkley Michigan got a reminder this year of the Constitutionality of allowing Christmas displays.

Hal Moroz, a lawyer, judge and law professor wrote the following for an article. It was sent to me by a mutual friend and I am reprinting it here for your enjoyment.

"Legally Recognizing the Christmas Holiday        Hal Moroz

Christmas is the most celebrated and treasured of American holidays. It is a time of celebration, gift-giving, festive decorations, and, as of late, growing controversy and confusion. The latter is based on legal challenges as to how Americans may publicly commemorate the central meaning of the holiday, that being the birth of Christ.

Secular organizations like the ACLU have challenged various expressions of recognition of the Christmas holiday, alleging that they violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and the notion of a separation between church and state.

Traditional organizations have countered by arguing that religious expressions designed to commemorate the season are an important historical part of America’s cultural heritage, and that the Establishment Clause was created to protect the free exercise of religion.

A result of this controversy is confusion in the minds of the general public over what is a legally acceptable religious _expression during the Christmas season. Although the legal battles continue, our high courts have provided some answers to questions regarding your rights during the Christmas season. Here are a few questions and answers:

(1) May public schools and local governments call the December school and work breaks “Christmas Vacation”?

Yes. The Supreme Court has approved the longstanding recognition of religious holidays, including Christmas, by public schools and local governments [Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 676 (1984)]. Even Congress has declared Christmas a legal public holiday [5 U.S.C.A. § 6103(a) (2003)].

(2) May saying “Merry Christmas” be banned in public squares or schools?

No. All Americans enjoy the constitutional right of free speech in the public square. In addition, the Supreme Court has ruled that teachers and students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or _expression at the schoolhouse gate.” [Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 506 (1969)].

(3) May Christmas carols be sung by students in public schools?

Yes. Even Christmas carols with references to Jesus Christ may be sung by students without violating the Constitution. Singing these carols in choirs, Christmas programs, and at other events is permissible. [Florey v. Sioux Falls School District, 619 F.2d 1311, 1319 (8th Cir. 1980)].

(4) May students in public schools study the historical origins of Christmas, including biblical accounts of the birth of Christ?

Yes. The Supreme Court has stated that “the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.” [Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39, 42 (1981)].

(5) May local governments sponsor Christmas displays?

Yes. Public officials may authorize the display of Christmas symbols, such as a nativity scene depicting the historical origin of the holiday, without offending the Constitution. To determine the constitutionality of a particular display, the Supreme Court established the three-pronged Lemon Test, in which the court inquires “whether the challenged law or conduct has a secular purpose, whether its principal or primary effect is to advance or inhibit religion, and whether it creates an excessive entanglement of government with religion.” [Lynch, 465 U.S. at 679 (citing Lemon, 403 U.S. at 612-613)].

With that said, the bottom line is that recognizing Christmas is still legal. And during this time of celebration, let us remember and acknowledge the men and women of our Armed Forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice to provide us the blanket of freedom to celebrate this most special holiday season.

Merry Christmas, America! God bless us, every one!"

Yes indeed - God bless us every one!

Much has been said in the last week about the unfortunate matter of former Rep. Mark Foley.  Everyone, on both sides of the blogosphere, has written extensively about the issue.  Many have speculated on the motivation of the timing of the release of the emails and the IM's.  Well all of a sudden, word is coming out.

 

"Two of the news media's sources of Mark Foley's sexually explicit instant messages to former House pages said this week that they came forward to expose the Florida congressman's actions, not to help the Democrats in the midterm elections.
But there are indications that Democrats spent months circulating five less insidious Foley e-mails to news organizations before they were finally published by ABC News late last month, which prompted the leaking of the more salacious instant messages. Harper's Magazine said yesterday that it obtained the five e-mails from a Democratic Party operative, albeit in May, long before the election season."  (emphasis mine)

 

 

What is even more insideous is this.

 

"Homosexual activist Mike Rogers said he will reveal the identities of homosexual Republicans on Capitol Hill each day "for hypocritically opposing gay rights for political reasons when they themselves are gay."

 

AND this:

 

"We're getting into very dangerous territory, and I've warned my colleagues to be careful." That's what a Democrat leadership aide was saying on Wednesday, as word circulated about David Corn's blog posting that revealed that a list of gay Republicans congressional staffers was circulating through emails.Such a list has been talked about for months, if not years, by more militant homosexual activists, who have threatened to out Republican congressional staffers or even congressmen if they take positions counter to their gay lifestyle."

 

TAX CUTS WORK!!!!!  That is the news today out of DC and St Paul.

 

"The U.S. recorded a budget deficit of $248 billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, $48 billion less than the government predicted in August and the narrowest spending gap since 2002. "

 

The Prairie Pravda had this to say about the good news.

 

"The federal budget deficit, helped by a gusher of tax revenues, fell to $247.7 billion in 2006, the smallest amount of red ink in four years.
The deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was 22.3 percent lower than the $318.7 billion imbalance for 2005, handing President Bush an economic bragging point as Republicans go into the final four weeks of a battle for control of Congress. "

 

WCCO had this bit of even better news (HT to AAA at Residual Forces):

 

"A strong budget report released Tuesday -- showing $524 million in unexpected tax collections since February -- is boosting the likelihood finance officials will predict a budget surplus when a comprehensive economic forecast is issued Nov. 30.If the current trends hold, the surplus would trigger an obscure law forcing state leaders to consider a tax rebate, much like the checks taxpayers got when Jesse Ventura was governor."

 

Here is a grand case of pot meet kettle!

 

"Isfahan/Tehran - The Islamic conference in Isfahan in central Iran ended Sunday with a final statement in which the Muslim scholars called on the United Nations to adopt legal steps against religious insults. "

 

However, as we learned with the latest set of "negotiated" cease-fires between Islamic groups and Israel, we know that these Islamists chose to only adhere to these laws when it suits and benefits THEM!  The mullahs are not interested in freedom for anyone.  They are only interested in growing sharia law, by force if necessary.  The sad thing is, we are falling for it!  Whether it be the taxi issue in Minneapolis (see this Daniel Pipes column for an expert's take on the issue...and it IS sharia law!) or the Jack Straw veil comments or the riots in France (and Britain and Sweden and others) we are falling over backwards to placate people that do not want to be placated.  There must come a time for freedom loving people across the globe to stand up to the fascists that want to take away our rights.  Will we do so or will we simply lie down and be dictatated to?  This Lady will not!  

 

"Your Page, M'Lord - John Tierney - NYT
 
Suppose Nike’s founder, Phil Knight, asked taxpayers to subsidize a program for 16-year-olds to leave their homes to become “squires” running errands at Nike headquarters.
Or suppose, before his death, Sam Walton had asked Congress to build a dormitory in Arkansas to house teenage “serfs” spending a semester away from their schools to work on a Wal-Mart loading dock.
These executives would become national jokes. They’d be denounced for trying to revive 19th-century child-labor practices and 12th-century feudalism. There would be no public money appropriated for Knight’s Squires or Sam’s Serfs.
Yet Congress sees nothing strange about dragging teenagers from their families and schools to become pages, one step below a squire in the feudal food chain.
They’re not being forced to wear Prince Valiant haircuts, but they have to do scut work that’s probably even less useful than what they could learn at Nike or Wal-Mart.
Congressional pages spend much of their time hand-delivering documents, a job that’s done electronically in most 21st-century institutions. When educators talk about preparing youth for jobs in the Information Age, they’re not talking about training messengers.
The justification for the page program is that it gives teenagers an insider’s glimpse of how Congress works. But why disillusion them at such a tender age?
If they stayed in school, they could maintain their innocence by reading the old step-by-step textbook version of how a bill becomes law. By going to Capitol Hill, they see how the process has changed:
1. A bill is introduced to build highways.
2. A congressman receives a donation from a constituent who wants to open a go-kart track.
3. The congressman persuades his committee chairman to slip in a $350 million “earmark” for an “alternative sustainable transportation research facility” in his district.
4. The chairman quietly adds similar earmarks for all members of the committee.
5. The bill is passed unanimously.
6. The president complains about the “wasteful spending” but signs it into law anyway.
7. The congressman attends a fund-raiser at the new go-kart track.
What lesson has the page learned? That Congress is the closest thing in modern America to a medieval court: an enclave governed by arcane ancient rules of seniority, a gathering of nobles who spend their days accepting praise and dispensing favors to supplicants.
They’re so secure in their jobs, and so used to being surrounded by groveling minions, that they assume the privileges of feudal lords when dealing with pages and other lieges. Which is why, on occasion, they try to exercise the droit du seigneur.
Unlike previous scandals, in which members were censured for having sex with pages, the current one so far doesn’t involve physical contact. But it features lewd messages from Representative Mark Foley to a teenager asking about his sex life and requesting a picture.
When you are chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, as Foley was, this does not qualify as research for your job.
Even if you could somehow quell Congressional libidos, even if this scandal taught members of Congress not to hit on teenagers, the page program still wouldn’t be worth paying for.
It should be eliminated, as Representative Ray LaHood has proposed, for the sake of both Congress and the pages. They need to be spared not just from lustful congressmen but from the chief lesson taught by the program: that success is all about making the right connections.
To get into the program, you (or your parents or their well-connected friends) have to find a member of Congress to sponsor you.
Once in, the supreme goal is to ingratiate yourself with someone powerful enough to help you move up the Washington hierarchy. As Rachel Swarns reported in The Times, Foley was a favorite of the pages because he offered them the gift of access.
“If a congressman was talking to you, it was the best thing in the world,” said one former page, Patrick McDonald.
Spend enough time as a page, and you can easily believe it’s not what you know, it’s who you know — and whom you flatter.
Granted, toadying can be a useful skill in most lines of work. But it’s not a lesson teenagers need to study for a whole semester, especially when it’s being taught in text messages from a lord on Capitol Hill. John Tierney/NYT"

 

I think that Tierney's piece trivializes the page program.  The page program is a chance for young people to learn about the nuts and bolts of the political and legislative process.  No one ever said that politics was pretty and heaven knows there have been abuses of the system, but there are many who have nothing by positive experiences within the page program.

 

"For both Minnesota pages, their stint with Congress was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to don ties, gray slacks and navy blazers and get a sneak peak at the backstage of history, sometimes before it was made.
"It was probably the best experience of my life," said Schilmoeller, now a law student at Tulane in New Orleans."

 

They can't be, you say....what about "seperation" church and state?  Well apparently that only applies to Christianity and not Islam.

 

"NYSSA, Ore. -- Officials at a public school in Oregon are defending a seventh-grade social studies unit on Islam that included students dressing in traditional Islamic dress.
Kendlee Garner of Nyssa told the Ontario Argus Observer that she objected to the amount of time dedicated to the unit on Islam -- four weeks -- as well as the wearing of religious garb and the lack of parental notification. She said her son told her about the activity, and when she objected, he got an alternate assignment in the library"

 

 

What is sad (and a bit frightening) is the fact that this is not the first case of such a class.  In the first case (that I know of), the parents sued the school district and appealed the case all the way up to the Supreme Court, however the Court refused to hear the appeal.  In this case the children were forced to "worship" as a Muslim would.  The school district argued that it was an education exercise, to which the Courts agreed.  My argument is, would they say the same thing if someone tried to teach a course on evangelism?  Maybe I should try that in the Junior Logician's classroom...

Here is one thing that Amy Klobuchar, Patty Wetterling, Coleen Rowley and the rest of the ladies in the DFL will NOT tell you this year.

 

"The IRS recently released official tax statistics by income group for the 2004 tax year, and the new data show that despite what some critics of recent tax policy have suggested, all income groups have witnessed their effective federal income tax rates fall, including lower- and middle-income taxpayers." (emphasis mine)

 

 

The next time one of the leftie screechers gets in your face about all of the civil rights we have lost under the Bush "regime", please point them to this;

 

"An opera company in Berlin has cancelled a Mozart production of his work Idomeneo fearing a scene in which the prophet Mohammed's decapitated head is rolled on stage could trigger an Islamic backlash.
The decision by the Deutsche Oper, one of the world's most celebrated opera houses, shows how deep-rooted the fears now are in Europe's artistic community about offending Muslim sensibilities."

 

or this;

 

"A London gallery has decided not to show some works of art because it fears they would upset Muslims, a curator said on Friday, a week after a German opera house canned a Mozart production for the same reason."

 

or this;

 

"An Egyptian professor has stirred up a hornet's nest among his fellow Muslims by comparing the Koran with a supermarket where you can find whatever you are looking for.
Hassan Hanafi's remarks, made at a seminar organized by the Alexandria Library, have sparked a fierce response, from demands that he retract them to suggestions that he might be mad."

 

 

"News reports over the weekend, including in the New York Times of September 30, recounted developments in France involving Robert Redeker, an article of whose in Le Figaro of September 19 on Islam elicited death threats which have forced him into hiding.
Redeker has been described as a high school teacher in Toulouse, which is true. He is also the author of some ten books and numerous article publications, listed on his c.v. He has written for Le Monde as well as for Le Figaro (so he cannot be cast simply as conservative); indeed he is an editorial board member of Les Temps Modernes. "

 

or this;

 

"Last week a book publisher told Nancy Kobrin, a psychoanalyst and lecturer on counter-terrorism, that they were withdrawing the publication of her book, The Sheikh’s New Clothes, because they were afraid of fundamentalist repercussions, according to Kobrin."

 

 

Our traditional free press is becoming an endangered species.  If they are not shooting themselves (and their credibility) in the foot by running with incomplete/incorrect stories (like the TANG documents or it seems the Foley follies) they are being gunned down by drug runners and organized crime!

 

"MEXICO CITY Freedom of the press lost ground in the Western hemisphere in the last six months because of legal restrictions and open threats by governments, impunity for wrongdoers and the violence of organized crime, especially drug traffickers, the Inter American Press Association concluded Tuesday.Nine journalists were killed in the last six months — 53 since the newspaper organization began tracking such murders in 1982 — including three from Venezuela, three from Colombia, two from Mexico and one from Paraguay. Particularly worrisome is northern Mexico, where drug traffickers operate freely, the group said." (emphasis mine)

 

Some states and counties across the country are stepping up to do what the federal government refuses to do!

 

"CHARLOTTE -- Police here operated for years under what amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward illegal immigrants.
As elsewhere in the United States, law enforcement officers did not check the immigration status of people they came into contact with, and in the vast majority of cases, a run-in with the law carried little threat of deportation.
But that accommodation for the burgeoning illegal population ended abruptly in April, when the Mecklenburg County sheriff's office began to enforce immigration law, placing more than 100 people a month into deportation proceedings. Some of them had been charged with violent crimes, others with traffic infractions."

 

 

"When any of them cross that border without proper documentation, they've violated the law -- however insignificant it may seem to some people," he said."

 

The story of the shooting of the Amish school girls in Pennsylvania was tragic, however there is a light and a lesson in the story.

 

"Families of some of the children murdered in rural Pennsylvania have reportedly invited the wife of their killer to the funerals.
As vigils were held to remember the five Amish schoolgirls murdered in their classroom and pray for the five seriously wounded, the healing process began in the deeply religious community."

 

 

Don't call for a taxi at the Minneapolis airport if you are carrying alcohol or you could find yourself walking home.

"Cabdriver Muhamed Mursal doesn't wear his Muslim beliefs on his sleeve, but he soon may broadcast them via a light on top of his cab.
Mursal and hundreds of other Muslim cabdrivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport refuse to take travelers they know are carrying alcohol. No one is searching bags, but a Napa Valley wine box or a see-through bag from the duty-free store can be enough to leave a fare waiting for the next cab. Airport officials estimate that happens at least three times a day."

The editorial board at the Prairie Pravda think that is wrong. Now before you go get the wrong idea (like maybe they got in touch with their "inner capitalist") let me reassure you that they have a true "progressive" reason...there are not enough hispanic drivers...not enough diversity in the drivers ranks

More importantly was this take on Fox 9 News this morning (video clip) . According to the clip, the Muslim drivers routinely refuse to give riders to people carrying alcohol, gays and blacks! Now I do not recall hearing the NAACP or any of the gay rights groups screaming about that, do you?

 

Boy if this is true, things are about to take a serious turn for the worse....for the Democrats!

 

"CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE MESSAGES WERE PAGE PRANK GONE AWRY**World Exclusive** **Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT** According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.

According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded an unwitting Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats.

The primary source, an ally of Edmund, adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund. Both are fearful that their political careers will be affected if they are publicly brought into the investigation.

The prank scenario only applies to the Edmund IM sessions and does not necessarily apply to any other exchanges between the former congressman and others. The news come on the heels that Edmund has hired former Timothy McVeigh attorney, Stephen Jones. Developing... "

 

American Thinker has this to say on the development:

 

"Present state of play—the Dems and CREW are implicated; ABC’s Brian Ross has his own Rathergate, the FBI and Ethics Committee are going to find out which Dems were involved and CREW will probably lose their tax exempt status. The Dems have shown themselves to be perfectly willing to use homophobia to win when they have no saleable platform or issues; the Republican base is charged up and once again Soros turned his gold into Dem dross.
Foley will become a living example of the Dems’ willingness to smear a homosexual for gain and will write a book, go on Oprah and make a mint. He will be this year’s wronged victim. Mark my words A fit ending to a sordid smear."

 

This whole sordid affair has again shown that the Democrats will do anything to gain power.