Some of the bright lights in Iranian politics are proposing a law that would criminalize the ownership of dogs. If the bill passes, keeping such "impure and dangerous animals" would result in the animal's being confiscated and the owner being fined up to £300. One need not be told that cruel fates would await the confiscated animals, even though Islam adjures its adherents to treat animals with kindness. Too often it seems, those in power in Iran find it convenient to ignore much of their own religion even while claiming it as justification for their cruelty.
In June 2010, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a senior Iranian cleric, declared, "friendship with dogs is a blind imitation of the West". A working dog such as a guard dog or a sheep dog is considered acceptable under Islamic law, but not a pet dog. How is it that the keeping of dogs can be declared haram (unclean) when Surat 5:4 of the Qu'ran quotes the prophet as saying that the eating of prey animals caught by dogs is permissible? Since dogs are not given to washing their mouths out first before they catch animals in their jaws, one would think this would necessarily make the food unclean. If it is permitted to ingest food held in the jaws of a dog, does it not constitute a twisted duality of attitude toward canines to declare the ownership of them to be against Islamic law? Even more, does it not constitute a dark ages preoccupation with a supposed problem that is no more relevant to the quality of everyday life than is the question of exactly what colour triceratops' skins really were? For someone secure in the righteousness of their action, it should be of no significance at all what "the West" does.
I have met visually impaired Muslims who labour under the burden of this medieval myth that dogs are unclean, and therefore deny themselves the invaluable aid of a guide dog. Worse still are the Muslim parents who deny their children such aid and canine companionship because of this backward belief. The use of a white cane simply is not a mobility aid equal to that provided by a guide dog.
Wasting time on the question of whether or not a dog is unclean would almost be funny, if only it weren't so pathetic.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Giving Made Easy
If you're a fan of fair trade AND motherhood, you can bring the two together in one fell swoop that will end up creating a most beneficial byproduct. Follow the link here to find a coupon that will allow you to donate 20% of your purchase at Ten Thousand Villages. From April 25 to May 8, you can use the coupon to purchase goods in person or online. You'll be able to find a truly original gift for Mom, (or even yourself - why not?) and you'll know you've helped out the artisan who created it. The Ten Thousand Villages operate on the principle of "trade with a conscience." Their aim is to help build a sustainable future through trade based on the premise that every artisan should receive the respect, dignity and hope that comes from working hard and earning fair value for her/his work.
With all of that behind your purchase, you'll already be feeling good, but when you realize that use of that coupon will result in 20% of your purchase being donated to Habitat for Humanity Canada’s local initiatives, well, it will just be the icing on the cake! A great gift, a great cause - the right to decent, affordable housing - and a great feeling for you, all with the use of one coupon - giving just doesn't get much easier!
With all of that behind your purchase, you'll already be feeling good, but when you realize that use of that coupon will result in 20% of your purchase being donated to Habitat for Humanity Canada’s local initiatives, well, it will just be the icing on the cake! A great gift, a great cause - the right to decent, affordable housing - and a great feeling for you, all with the use of one coupon - giving just doesn't get much easier!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Answer Me This
Why is Attawapiskat still waiting for its new elementary school to be built?
It has already been over a decade now that the government has been making empty promises to the Attawapiskat First Nation, and the people still have nothing more to show for their patient waiting than syllables blown away by the hot air of Ottawa's speechmakers.
J.R. Nakogee Elementary school, closed down in May 2000, was found to be sitting on a network of pipes that were leaking diesel fuel into the ground beneath the school. Inspection has shown both the soil and the groundwater to be polluted by benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene and total petroleum hydrocarbons from gas and diesel at levels above those deemed safe for human health. The building itself has been found to have five species of mould growing in the classrooms and corridors.
If such a situation were found to exist in any of Canada's cities, even in any of its southern rural communities, it would be addressed immediately. The school would be promptly replaced. Because this situation exists in a First Nation community, it drags on, unresolved, while the elementary school children attend classes in eleven portables that stand betweeen the fenced-off, contaminated site, and an airstrip. Meant to be only temporary, these buildings stand separated from each other, so that walking from classroom to classroom in winter requires a parka. While students here in Toronto, for instance, who are housed in a portable for any of their classes might don a parka as well, to get to their gym class, they would at least have a gym to walk to. The students at Attawapiskat have no gym. They have no playground, either, for that matter. There is no play equipment for them; there is nothing.
Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, has declared there is "no money" for the new school. Bullshit, plain and simple. A government that has two million dollars to waste on building a fake lake for last summer's G8 has the money to spend on a new school in Attawapiskat. It simply chooses not to.
During this current election campaign, it would make damn interesting copy if anyone could corner Harper and actually get the truth from him about the paternalistic/racist ministry of "Indian Affairs" and the government attitude toward the people of the First Nations. It would be interesting, indeed, to hear what any of the party leaders had to say about what they would do for Attawapiskat and every other left-behind First Nation community, for that matter.
Unfortunately, these people are too easily ignored by Canada, and there is little pride to he had for our true north strong and free in the country's treatment of its own people.
It has already been over a decade now that the government has been making empty promises to the Attawapiskat First Nation, and the people still have nothing more to show for their patient waiting than syllables blown away by the hot air of Ottawa's speechmakers.
J.R. Nakogee Elementary school, closed down in May 2000, was found to be sitting on a network of pipes that were leaking diesel fuel into the ground beneath the school. Inspection has shown both the soil and the groundwater to be polluted by benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylene and total petroleum hydrocarbons from gas and diesel at levels above those deemed safe for human health. The building itself has been found to have five species of mould growing in the classrooms and corridors.
If such a situation were found to exist in any of Canada's cities, even in any of its southern rural communities, it would be addressed immediately. The school would be promptly replaced. Because this situation exists in a First Nation community, it drags on, unresolved, while the elementary school children attend classes in eleven portables that stand betweeen the fenced-off, contaminated site, and an airstrip. Meant to be only temporary, these buildings stand separated from each other, so that walking from classroom to classroom in winter requires a parka. While students here in Toronto, for instance, who are housed in a portable for any of their classes might don a parka as well, to get to their gym class, they would at least have a gym to walk to. The students at Attawapiskat have no gym. They have no playground, either, for that matter. There is no play equipment for them; there is nothing.
Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, has declared there is "no money" for the new school. Bullshit, plain and simple. A government that has two million dollars to waste on building a fake lake for last summer's G8 has the money to spend on a new school in Attawapiskat. It simply chooses not to.
During this current election campaign, it would make damn interesting copy if anyone could corner Harper and actually get the truth from him about the paternalistic/racist ministry of "Indian Affairs" and the government attitude toward the people of the First Nations. It would be interesting, indeed, to hear what any of the party leaders had to say about what they would do for Attawapiskat and every other left-behind First Nation community, for that matter.
Unfortunately, these people are too easily ignored by Canada, and there is little pride to he had for our true north strong and free in the country's treatment of its own people.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Idiot Alert Files Welcome Alan Saldanha
Star membership is upcoming for Alan Saldanha. The Green party candidate in Surrey has resigned over an inappropriate comment on Facebook. Saldanha listed his favourite quote on his Facebook page as: "If rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it!"
When questioned about the disgusting line, Saldanha came back with an incredibly lame excuse, saying first that the quote had been taken out of context. Stupid moron. There simply is no context in which that offensive line would be even vaguely acceptable, and there is no reason why a man with even half a brain would select that as his fave quote, no matter what the supposed context. Not content with a little stupidity, Saldanha went for broke and said, "Someone had told me that Confucius says, etc.'" What an idiot.
One has to wonder, could the man live up to his favourite quote? If by some strange twist of fate, he were to find himself in his own version of hell, trapped in a "Deliverance" type scene, would he be able to say with the appropriate amount of passive acceptance, "Ah, well", then lie back and enjoy it?
When questioned about the disgusting line, Saldanha came back with an incredibly lame excuse, saying first that the quote had been taken out of context. Stupid moron. There simply is no context in which that offensive line would be even vaguely acceptable, and there is no reason why a man with even half a brain would select that as his fave quote, no matter what the supposed context. Not content with a little stupidity, Saldanha went for broke and said, "Someone had told me that Confucius says, etc.'" What an idiot.
One has to wonder, could the man live up to his favourite quote? If by some strange twist of fate, he were to find himself in his own version of hell, trapped in a "Deliverance" type scene, would he be able to say with the appropriate amount of passive acceptance, "Ah, well", then lie back and enjoy it?
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Vive La Belle France!
A new law came into effect this week in la belle France, a law passed last year by an overwhelming majority in the French parliament to ban the wearing in public of the burqa and niqab. The burqa covers the entire face, while the niqab covers everything but the eyes. President Nicolas Sarkozy has quite rightly referred to the burqa as "a sign of enslavement and debasement."
The only place left now for a woman to wear such debasing garments is in the privacy of her own home. Wearing them anywhere else can result in the offenders facing a maximum fine of €150 (about $190) and/or being asked to attend courses on what the government calls "republican values." Individuals who encourage others to ignore the ban would face the more stringent penalties of up to one year in prison and a maximum fine of €30,000. The ban applies to everyone in France, including visitors.
Of course, one response has been many a self-righteous Muslim male calling for violent retribution to be visited on France. The even more disturbing response, however, has come from those Muslim women who have actually protested the law.
Their sad protests against a law that seeks to undermine the debasement of their gender puts me in mind of a passage penned by Terry Pratchett in his novel "Interesting Times". The story is largely set in the fictional Hunghung, a locale where peasants stand quiescent, passively waiting for their overlords to visit aberrant forms of justice on them in whatever violent fashion takes their fancy. A main character in the story, seeing that this scene takes place again and again, even though the overlords do not whip the peasants into submission is puzzled. He ponders the peasants' unquestioning acceptance of such subjugation until he arrives at an understanding of how the Empire has achieved that end. "The Empire's got something worse than whips all right," he thinks. "It's got obedience. Whips in the soul." (emphasis my own) That's exactly what the militant misogyny of those Muslim males who expect their women to wear such demeaning garments has achieved. It has hardwired whips right into the souls of those women. Any woman who protests losing her supposed right to wear these blatant symbols of militant misogyny has got whips in her poor, pathetic soul.
The only place left now for a woman to wear such debasing garments is in the privacy of her own home. Wearing them anywhere else can result in the offenders facing a maximum fine of €150 (about $190) and/or being asked to attend courses on what the government calls "republican values." Individuals who encourage others to ignore the ban would face the more stringent penalties of up to one year in prison and a maximum fine of €30,000. The ban applies to everyone in France, including visitors.
Of course, one response has been many a self-righteous Muslim male calling for violent retribution to be visited on France. The even more disturbing response, however, has come from those Muslim women who have actually protested the law.
Their sad protests against a law that seeks to undermine the debasement of their gender puts me in mind of a passage penned by Terry Pratchett in his novel "Interesting Times". The story is largely set in the fictional Hunghung, a locale where peasants stand quiescent, passively waiting for their overlords to visit aberrant forms of justice on them in whatever violent fashion takes their fancy. A main character in the story, seeing that this scene takes place again and again, even though the overlords do not whip the peasants into submission is puzzled. He ponders the peasants' unquestioning acceptance of such subjugation until he arrives at an understanding of how the Empire has achieved that end. "The Empire's got something worse than whips all right," he thinks. "It's got obedience. Whips in the soul." (emphasis my own) That's exactly what the militant misogyny of those Muslim males who expect their women to wear such demeaning garments has achieved. It has hardwired whips right into the souls of those women. Any woman who protests losing her supposed right to wear these blatant symbols of militant misogyny has got whips in her poor, pathetic soul.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
The Face of Hatred
Some might know the man pictured here as Terry Jones. Most of the world knows him as the face of hatred. He is the Florida hatemonger who went ahead, on March 20, with his planned burning of a Qu'ran, despite warnings by President Barack Obama, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, and General David Petraeus, commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan that such an act of hate would endanger lives.
Now this piece of shit who pretends to be a christian, has declared that on Good Friday, he and a local group of like-minded morons who call themselves the Order of the Dragon will protest outside the Islamic Centre of America in Dearborn, Michigan. He has likely picked that location because of its large Muslim population. It would afford him the largest target for his hate mongering that he can harangue in one place at one time.
As of this writing, 20 people, including seven people affiliated with the United Nations have been killed in Afghanistan, in violent protests over the idiot's irresponsible and hateful action. Nine people died during a demonstration in the southern city of Kandahar on Saturday, while another 81 people have been injured in protests aimed at Americans and other foreigners in the beleaguered country.
Jones, however, like all hatemongers, refuses to accept any responsibility for his actions. "We find it very tragic any time that someone is murdered," says the idiot,"but we do not feel any responsibility for that."
It is interesting that this miserable misanthrope makes use of the plural pronoun "we". One wonders, is he speaking for himself and those other brain-dead merchants of malevolence who follow him, or is he suffering delusions of grandeur and using the royal "we"? Either way, he neither follows, nor speaks for the gentle Jesus in whom he pretends to believe. Rather, he embodies enmity and his actions and words are directly intended to cause the loss of life. By burning that Qu'ran, he achieved exactly what he set out to do.
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