Letters to the Editor
inkyiv
Published Letters: 12 Editor's Choice: 1
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the niquab at the polls
[Read the article: Banning veils from the polls]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well, after all the thunder and lightning, it seems that the niquab may not be mandatory ...
http://www.irfi.org/articles/women_in_islam/is_head_cover_for_women_mandator.htm
My personal opinion, illiberal as it may be, is face coverings are a hindrance to identification.... Girls wearing headscarves and playing soccer are more likely to be injured; the scarf slipping, someone grabbing it etc...
When people from Arab/and or Muslim countries emigrate to the west they should not expect special accommodation to be made for them, nor in my opinion should they get it. They are free to stay in their own countries and practice as they like. I do not feel it is equitable to expect special treatment.
Looks to me as if some want to be more equal than others!
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nose in the camel's tent
[Read the article: Banning veils from the polls]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And in support of my previous contentions, I only had to continue reading today's Salon:
Judge: Wife-beating is normal in your culture
In Germany, it's not easy to get a divorce -- there's a mandatory one-year waiting period after filing. Sometimes when there is serious hardship, however, the courts make an exception. Unfortunately, what constitutes hardship can fall into a cross-cultural morass where 7th-century religious texts trump both modern law and international human rights. At least that's what happened with a 26-year-old Morrocan-born German who attempted to get a fast-track divorce from her husband because he was beating her and threatening to kill her.
According to an article in the New York Times, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, denied the woman a reprieve from the waiting period because the couple are Muslims noting the Koran allows husbands to "castigate" their wives and wife beating is common in Moroccan culture.
Here's what Datz-Winter told the woman in court: "You were raised in the Moroccan culture. Such situations could be normal in your culture. According to the sura Nisa of the Koran, man has dominance over woman. So, there is no need for you to get an urgent divorce." Hello! Shari'a law lives in Germany!
Once the court ruling was made public by the woman's lawyer, it drew sharp condemnation from legal experts, women's rights advocates and Muslim religious groups, demanding disciplinary action against the judge. But one women's rights worker told Spiegel that the case was not an isolated instance of a pernicious kind of cultural relativism seeping into court cases involving marital violence. Now with a growing population of fundamentalist Muslims living in German society, this case suggests that a desire to accommodate a radically different culture can have unsettling ramifications. If nothing else it may keep other Muslim women who are stuck in abusive marriages from seeking help in the courts.
-- Carol Lloyd
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another way of reading it
[Read the article: A lesson in 7th century history for Nancy Pelosi]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]From wikipedia there was another translation which might be a bit more enlightening:
Hangul Hanja English
신책구천문 神策究天文 Your divine plans have plumbed the heavens;
묘산궁지리 妙算窮地理 Your subtle reckoning has spanned the earth;
전승공기고 戰勝功旣高 You win every battle, your military merit is great;
지족원운지 知足願云止 Why then not be content and stop the war?
Aloha.
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Camille Paglia
[Read the article: If we leave Iraq, do we lose for good?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After briefly browsing through, almost got to page 2, I decided my time would be better spent elsewhere. I don't always read everything in Salon, but I'm going to confess that I wondered what didn't get published so that Ms Paglia could have her say. The woman appears to have a lot of disconnected and discontented bees in her bonnet. it seems to me that she's past her sell-by date when it comes to ideas; it somehow seems so seventies.
I expect better.
Aloha.
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Timing of the news
[Read the article: Can a virus make you fat?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This research was originally published in 2000. I'm awfully curious as to why it's being spread all over the news now. I googled it when I first saw the news article in the Independent UK paper. Does anyone have any ideas or answers as to the timing of this???
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taco bell
[Read the article: Remembrance of tacos past]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read this piece with an air of bewilderment; I grew up in San Diego in the 40's and 50's and as far I can remember Mexican restaurants were never considered "dirty"....they were mostly centered in Old Town but there were some in la Jolla, Coronado, and Ocean Beach and the best tacos, enchiladas etc were hotly debated. The best tamales were found by the fire-lifeguard station at Ocean Beach (from a cart) and a particularly good taco could be found in a hole-in-the-wall on Canon street in Point Loma. The idea of the kind of fare found at Taco Bell would have been laughable!
But thanks anyway for a fun article. I guess the huge population explosion changed into some attitudes and ideas all too different from "my San Diego".
Aloha!
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Christian Right
[Read the article: How the Christian right could defeat Rudy -- and make Hillary president]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Aloha...a little off topic, but I would like an answer....Could someone please tell me the significant differences between Rudy and Hillary? Not between a Democratic party win versus a Republican one, but their views on policy etc.