This and That | Ain't Complicated

What Makes Muslims Joyful?

Israeli excavation in Jerusalem stirs Muslim anger:

Israeli excavation work on Tuesday near an entrance to a compound in Jerusalem that houses the al-Aqsa mosque drew Palestinian protests and Israeli assurances the dig would not harm Islam’s third holiest shrine.

Israeli police stationed reinforcements in the alleyways of Jerusalem’s walled Old City to head off feared Palestinian violence at a flashpoint site at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

These folks surely do seem to have an anger problem, judging by how often news headlines/stories seem to talk about “Arab anger” or “Muslim anger” or such like. Maybe the mainstream media is biased against Islam and Arabs?

So when I saw the above headline a few minutes ago, I thought, “Ho hum.” Yawn.

Then I wondered, “What makes these people happy? What brings joy to their hearts? To what does their Koran point as sources of happiness?”

Then I wondered about me.

Christian Bookstores?

Paul Proctor writes:

OK, escort your kids out of the room – lock the door – sit back down at your computer and go to: Christian Heritage Bookstore.

Now, brace yourself and type the word “X-Rated” into their website’s search engine and click on the word “search.”

[…]

Friends, we’ve got a serious problem in the online Christian bookstore industry. In fact, someone really needs to ask the question:

Just what is a Christian Bookstore?

You would think that a Christian bookstore is a place where only biblically sound materials are sold.

Something’s Confusing

Democratic politicians are alleged to have no core principles.

But they surely do know how to stand their ground.

Republican politicos are said to be principled and all that.

But they seem unable to stand on them for very long.

So which of them stand for nothing?

What got me to thinking about this a bit was something Rush said this morning about Republicans already caving in the House and Senate.

I’m not surprised. If the Elephants couldn’t rack up a better stiff-spine record while they were in the majority, why should they exhibit any better record as the minority?

Now for two disclaimers:

1) I’m sure there are exceptions in both parties to the brushes used here.

2) I’m neither Democrat nor Republican nor Independent nor Libertarian nor Green (I have another post on that subject) nor Red nor Pink nor Rainbow nor Purple nor any other political affiliation or practice. I’m an ambassador serving in the United States at this particular time. I don’t think I’m a very good ambassador, so maybe I’m not better at this “standing for something” business than the politicians I mentioned above.

Gutsy Little Town

Attention, Immigrants

Don’t stone women to death, burn them or circumcise them, immigrants wishing to live in the town of Herouxville in Quebec, Canada, have been told.

The rules come in a new town council declaration on culture that Muslims have branded shocking and insulting.

Herouxville, which has one immigrant family in its population of about 1,300, is 160km (100 miles) north-east of Montreal.

Its council published the new rules on the town’s website.

“We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here,” the declaration reads.

Feel free to stop by their website. A fair warning, though: You’ll just have to pardon their French!

Reproducing, Though Dead

How’s this for a weird story?

In a precedent-setting decision, an Israeli court has ruled that a dead soldier’s family can have his sperm impregnated into the body of a woman he never met.

Keivan Cohen, 20, was shot dead in 2002 by a Palestinian sniper in the Gaza Strip. He was single and left no will. But at the urging of his parents, a sample of his sperm was taken two hours after his death and has been stored in a hospital since.

When the family tried to gain access to the sperm, however, the hospital refused, on the ground that only a spouse could make such a request. Arguing that their son yearned to raise a family, his parents challenged that decision in court. And on Jan. 15, after a four-year legal battle, a Tel Aviv court granted the family’s wish and ruled that the sperm could be injected into a woman selected by Cohen’s family.

[…]

Irit Rosenblum, a family rights advocate who represented the Cohen family, said the ruling was significant because it set a precedent for those seeking to continue bloodlines after death.

[…]

“I think it is a human revolution,” Rosenblum said. “Ten years ago, who would believe that a human being can continue after he has died. I think it is great for humanity.”

Rosenblum said the woman who is to act as surrogate mother has requested to remain anonymous.

“She’s like family to us,” Rachel Cohen told the Tribune. “Cruel and good fate brought us together.”

Surrogate mother? Then who’s the real mother?

And whose child will this be?

Since this is an AP story, maybe somebody will “figure out” that it’s all part of a plot to make Jews (or at least Israelis) look weird. 🙂

The Poor Boy

Unhappy as a boy…

A boy of 12 is believed to have become the world’s youngest sex change patient after convincing doctors that he wanted to live the rest of his life as a female.

The boy – originally called Tim, but now known as Kim – has started to receive hormone treatment, in preparation for the operation that will eventually complete the sex change.

Tim was diagnosed as a transsexual two years ago, when doctors and psychiatrists concluded that his claims to be “in the wrong body” were so deeply felt that he required treatment. The therapy involves artificially arresting male puberty, with a series of potent hormone injections before the administration of female hormones to initiate the development of features such as breasts.

Now aged 14, and officially registered as a female, Kim looks like a typical girl of her age. She dresses in fashionable clothes, has long blonde hair and blue eyes and dreams of moving to Paris to become a fashion designer. Her parents, who initially assumed their son was going through a temporary phase, eventually grew accustomed to seeing him as a girl.

Too bad nobody could persuade him that he was wonderously made by his Creator.