North Coast Online

It Wasn't A Bomb, It Was A Sandwich

To the best of my knowledge, the following is not a joke.

A middle school student in Lewiston, Maine is being investigated by the police for a possible hate crime after he placed a bag containing a ham sandwich on a table where Somali students eat lunch. According to the school's superintendent, Leon Levesque, the student has been suspended, and more disciplinary action could follow pending the outcome of the investigation.

[UPDATE:] I had a chance to follow up on this today at work and the story is true, the local paper's coverage is here.  It was done as a prank and while I'd not be sorry to see the idiot teen-aged boy who pulled it suspended for a couple days and made to apologize, I think we'll be very sorry one day that something like this now has to be investigated as a crime.

And the reactions of the Muslim students are so overwrought you could be forgiven for thinking the whole report a satire.

The act reminded students of a man who threw a pig's head into a Lewiston mosque last summer.

[excerpt]

"We didn't know what was in this bag," the boy said. "One of my friends reached inside it. It was a big ham steak. There were five of us at the table, all Somali. It was intended for us."

The boy said he looked up at students he thought were his friends. "I felt angered, offended."

He suddenly felt like he was alone. "At the school the next day, I didn't feel safe.

Now, I'm usually very respectful of other peoples' religious beliefs but a theology which teaches its young followers to feel physically threatened by the mere presence of someone else's food is a particularly senseless one.  Now, perhaps there is no bullying in Somalia, but the fact that so many Somalis have come here specifically to escape a brutal, decades-long civil war that has killed tens of thousands -- if not hundreds of thousands -- leads me to believe otherwise.

This young Somali man must learn to get a grip if he's to have a normal life and the young American bully must learn to stop it.  Once upon a time the school principal could have handled something like this, but just look at the mess we're creating by criminalizing everything in sight.

The Concept Of Secret Ballots Doesn't Extend That Far

The French-Canadians, it appears, have shown some uncommon good sense about voting.

Muslim women will have to remove their face coverings if they want to vote in Monday's Quebec election. Quebec's chief returning officer has reversed an earlier decision and is now telling Muslim women who wear a niqab to show their faces when they vote.

Ordinary Quebeckers were threatening to show up at the polls wearing masks.  Good on them.

See No Evil

Rod Dreher on how at least some of America's Muslims are depending on American ignorance.

Progress Of A Sort

This might be important news -- or maybe not.

In a landmark religious decision, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Ali Gomaa, has upheld a fatwa (religious opinion) he issued a year ago stating that, according to Islamic law, women in contemporary Islamic societies have the right to become heads of state and lead nations based upon the legal reasoning of Imam Al-Tabari allowing women to serve in political positions as well as judges.

The Grand Mufti, who is the highest ranking Islamic jurist in Egypt and one of the Muslim world’s most influential scholars, reiterated his position in response to reports published in the Egyptian and international press falsely claiming he issued a fatwa barring women from becoming heads of modern states.

The article does not, however, tell us whether, once having become a head of state, a woman can still be murdered if she's raped; buried up to her neck and stoned for committing adultery or if she may drive herself home after a morning meeting with Condoleezza Rice.

Gives New Meaning To Facing Your Maker

You've probably heard about the London prison that's reorienting its toilets to conform to Sharia law, Limbaugh did a riff on it today among others.

Toilets in one London prison are getting a face-lift — or rather, a change in direction — to accommodate Muslim inmates who can't use them while facing Mecca, a British newspaper reported.

Government officials ackowledged using tax dollars for the changes to the facilities, but maintained that moving the toilets was part of "on-going refurbishment," according to an article in The Sun.

Islamic code prohibits Muslims from facing or turning their backs on the direction of prayer when they use the bathroom. Muslim prisoners complained of having to sit sideways on toilets so as to not break code.

Faith leaders in the government pressured officials to approve turning the toilets 90 degrees at HMP Brixton in London.

A Muslim American rights worker commended the London prison system for their actions, but said the problem, so far, doesn't appear to be an issue in the U.S.

"There have been very significant and numerous complaints at U.S. prisons on issues of regulating hygiene and respect for dietary laws," said Ibrahim Ramey, director of human and civil rights work for Muslim America Society. However, Ramey said he was unaware of any specific complaints regarding the direction of toilets in U.S. prisons.

Well, that's a relief (no pun intended.)  I really have to wonder, though, if Islamic code actually does specify the orientation of toilets or if that's just one imam's interpretation.  The controversy reminds me of those Muslim cab drivers in Minneapolis who swear that Sharia forbids them to transport passengers carrying alcohol in their luggage or who are accompanied by dogs (even of the seeing-eye variety.)

Other Muslims have called them out, claiming that while they may not consume adult beverages or own dogs, themselves, there's no restriction against accommodating those who do.  It begins to sound as if Sharia law is as fuzzy and prone to divergent interpretations as our own common law.  And I can't help but wonder if  we're (or the Brits in the case of the apostatising toilets) aren't just being fed a load of crap for the sake of a good laugh.

When No News Is News

Well, this is news indeed.

Hajj comes to a close without stampedes

Let me be among the first to issue a hearty well-done to this year's Hajj organizers.

Islam Demonstrating Its Commitment to Non-Violence

Pope's quote kindles Islamic rage

Pope Benedict XVI was damned throughout the Muslim world and likened to Hitler and a blood-lusting medieval crusader yesterday after he linked Islam to violence in a speech to a German university.

And what's the reaction?

A grenade exploded outside a Christian church in Gaza.

You simply cannot make this stuff up.

[UPDATE:] A Somali Muslim cleric, outraged over the Pope's remarks linking Islam to violence, has called for the Pope's death.

[UPDATE UPDATE:] Erupting in anger over supposed papal conflation of Islam with violence, Palestinians Muslims reacted with, um, violence today, firebombing five churches in the territories.

[UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:] Worried about continuing Muslim anger over the Pope's remarks that cautioned Islam against resorting to violence, the Vatican has tightened security for the Pope's Sunday Angelus blessing lest adherents of the Religion of Peace attempt to illustrate his words of earlier this week with action.

[UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:] A London-based Arabic language newspaper, disconsolate over the Pope's insinuation that Islam has a violence problem, has speculated that his remarks may lead to war.

Look, this post could go on for days.  But after the panties-on-the-head scandal, the Koran-in-the-toilet-kerfuffle, the Mohammed-cartoons heresy and now the Pope's-remarks-make-us-violent-in-our-quest-for-peace incident -- all met with world-wide riots and pious holy-man condemnations -- can any of these people still be taken seriously?

I realize that their willingness to kill us for sometimes rather innocuous reasons does command them a certain fear factor, but has Western Civilization really sunk so low intellectually that it can even consider these childlike tantrums deserving of concern?

Muslims In Space?

When a day lasts 90 minutes, how often does a Muslim astronaut pray?

As Malaysia's space program prepares to send the country's first astronaut to the space station next year, it is confronting some of the standard first-astronaut questions: what scientific research to pursue, which local delicacy to bring aboard, and who among the eager candidates should go. It is also tackling some more unusual quandaries, such as when to conduct the five daily Islamic prayers on an orbiting ship where a day lasts only 90 minutes.

In April the Malaysian national space agency held a two-day conference, Islam and Life in Space, to address these issues. One of the star attractions was a computer program called Muslims in Space, which calculates when spacefaring Muslims should pray and, using spherical trigonometry, discerns the direction of the Ka'aba, the holy shrine in Mecca that Muslims face dur...

I guess I'm glad that at least one part of the Muslim world has left the 12th century.

This Is The Dawning Of The Age Of ?

What a shame that we're this scared of Muslims.   

Offense

What next, bearded one?

I feel offended.

Zealots are nailing veils onto the faces of my sisters in Afghanistan and Pakistan and are busy hanging women, homosexuals, adulterers and non-believers.

But human rights, women's rights and the right to liberty are the most exalted in the history of humanity; this is the tradition in which I was raised. Values that make the world better and more peaceful.

I demand that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Indonesia and Egypt apologise to me. Otherwise I am unfortunately forced to threaten, beat up, kidnap or behead their citizens. Because I am somewhat sensitive about my cultural identity.

I feel offended.

Fanatics are blowing up the Buddhas of Bamiyan, marvellous cultural monuments.

But art is an expression of universal beauty and innocence to me. It is a value that makes the world better and more peaceful; this is the tradition in which I was raised.

I demand that Hamas, the spokesman of the French Muslims and the Director of the Al-Azhar-University apologise to me. Otherwise I will never spend a holiday at the Taj Mahal, I will call for a boycott of Palestinian fruit and I will set the embassies of Tunisia, Qatar and Bangladesh on fire.

I expect understanding for this at the very least – my feelings are absolute and must be expressed globally.

I feel offended.

Videos show journalists, truck drivers and NGO workers having their throats slit or their heads chopped off. Jews see themselves represented as cannibals and pigs, Western women as decadent sluts. Apolitical engineers have to fear for their lives.

All in the name of God.

I demand that all the editors in chief of newspapers and television broadcasters in the Islamic world apologise to me, because they do nothing to prevent these obscenities.

Many people are concerned that the clash of civilisation is near. Oh please, it has been going on for a while now, not only manifest in the monstrosities mentioned above but part of everyday life. How fragile, how superficial must Muslims' religious values be. How can cartoons in an unknown newspaper in a little European country cause such an upset and allow a handful of organised agitators to be able to drive many thousands onto the streets.

Joking how the prophet Mohammed is running out of virgins because so many suicide bombers are standing at the gates of paradise is dark and mean. And, given the reality of global attacks, lamentably effective (just as a side note). But I did not find it especially funny that the misogynous Taliban availed themselves regularly of prostitutes. Or publicly "executed" video recorders and televisions in order to watch pornos in privacy.

Just a reminder: the earth is not flat. It should go without saying that individuals in a secular democracy have every right to caricature and mock authorities, even religious ones. They should be prepared to meet criticism but not punishment. Freedom of expression has to be understood broadly and there are sufficient laws and rules that can be employed to prevent abuse.

The film "The Life of Brian" annoyed a lot of Christians and provoked letters to editors, calls for boycotts and quarrels within families. But nobody in New Zealand suspected a conspiracy against Christianity, nobody in Malta felt compelled to burn the Union Jack. Nor do political authorities have a natural right to protection. Margaret Thatcher was chopped to bits by British journalists, comedians and screenwriters and then put back together in a ghastly way; it was good for the mental sanity of that era and did not kill anyone.

Everyone had the right to turn it off, look away or toss the newspaper in the bin. Freedom of opinion was the Siamese twin of freedom from fear.

The fact that fundamentalists of all persuasions are completely incapable of self-reflection, self-criticism, and self-irony would not warrant a mention, were it not for their practice of imposing their issues on me and my world. They assume that we will kowtow to them as soon as we recognise who they are: "Look out! Religious feelings! We're leaving the private sphere."

In the self-referential world of God or Allah or Yahweh warriors, feelings are increasingly used as weapons and honoured as the highest authority. Readily summoned, merciless.

In the debate over the cartoons, the prohibition of pictures is being presented as a compulsory principle of belief. To be respected everywhere, even in the state of Denmark.

It gives pause to think that those who claim to be offended are so proficient with the Internet and other modern communication technologies but know little about their own cultural history. In Islam's heydey, pictures were made of the Prophet. Mohammed lightly veiled, for instance, on a horse riding to heaven – a wonderful Persian miniature in the Chester-Beatty-Museum in Dublin. (more)

What next, bearded one? Boycott Irish butter?

I do not have to concern myself with the sales figures of Danish yoghurt. I am not easy to blackmail and I am free to find Immanuel Kant's "sapere aude" more conducive to successful communal living than a Fatwa.

I hereby refuse to feel badly for the chronically insulted. I refuse to argue politely why freedom of expression, reason and humour should be respected. I do not want to continue to have to provide creationists scientific proof that the earth has been around for more than 10,000 years. And I am going to stop waiting for them to say on Al Jazeera, "Did you ever hear the one about the Prophet's beard?"

Hat tip to ChicagoBoyz.