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Mark Steyn – Hillary’s E Mails and Ambassador Chris Stevens
August 28, 2015 — xanthippaWhat difference, at this point, do these unsecured emails make?
Well, here is just one of many valid answers….
The Unknown-The Day I Was Called a Woman by Islam
August 27, 2015 — xanthippa
For more information on Islamic laws on marriage, please see my previous posts:
It is also important to note that the Islamic Prophet Muhammed said that men and children are not, under Sharia, required to cover their hair: only women who are either available for marriage or married are to cover their hair. It is the role of the father (or, in his absence, the female’s wali, or ‘male guardian’, since women are never considered independent humans under Sharia) to determine at which age she is available for marriage and that this guardian is to signal this availability to the Umma (the Muslim community) by ‘imposing the veil on her’.
While the customary age for this is 9 lunar years of age, under Sharia, the female’s wali is the one who decides her eligibility for marriage, regardless of physical age or maturity. There is no lower limit and under some Islamic rulings, even an infant may be married off and her husband consummate the marriage – though if she is physically damaged by this, the husband will be responsible for her maintenance for the rest of her life (but she will not count towards his total of maximum of 4 concurrent wives).
And then, there is muta’a: the temporary ‘pleasure marriage’… Of course, if the girl is young, under muta’a, it is her wali who collects the mahr ‘bride gift/price’… because while a woman is entitled to own property, under Sharia, it is her wali who controls it for her – as a proper guardian should.
Isn’t Sharia wonderful? It can take something sordid and despicable and turn it into something virtuous that pleases Allah himself!
‘Betrayed!’ – a book by Connie Fournier
August 20, 2015 — xanthippa“F” stands for “Free Dominion”.
That is what Dr. Michael Geist wrote in his ‘internet freedom countdown’.
“F” could just as easily could have stood for “Fournier” – as in Connie and Mark Fournier, who have done more for the freedom of speech and freedom on the Internet than any other Canadians. And this time, I am not using hyperbole!
20 years to the day and in the very building I had signed my marriage license, I came to observe and blog about a court case involving Free Dominion: Connie and Mark Fournier. It was a civil case involving anonymity on the internet and both the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Dr. Geist’s Electronic Frontier Foundation were intervenors in the case. Having heard of the latter two and considering any court case they both thought important enough to intervene in to definitely have a significant impact on my own internet and speech freedoms, I came to spectate. (OK – I have to admit – I am a Geist ‘acolyte’.)
While following this particular case and many, many more, I came to deeply admire Connie and Mark. Over the years, they have made significant impact on the evolution of our speech and internet rights, always from a deeply principled perspective.
Now, before you get the idea that I agree with Connie and Mark’s political views, let me stop you right there. They are social conservatives who come from a Christian perspective. I am a libertarian, just this side of turning into an-cap. And a militant ignostic as well as a registered Kopimist.
Despite the greatly different views we hold on a myriad of topics, I came to like and deeply respect the Fourniers. Even when we discussed topics we disagreed on, they were respectful and principled and debating things with them has always been a pleasure.
Full disclosure: the one principle both the Fourniers and I completely and totally agree on – and it is perhaps the most important principle of them all – is the importance of freedom of speech.
I came to understanding the true and essential need for freedom of speech as the cornerstone of our civilization and the internet as the vehicle through which it is anonymously and effectively delivered because I was not only born on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, I was also born the daughter of a political dissident. Perhaps because of this, I learned early on that without the freedom to criticize and ridicule political and religious ideologies and figures, you lose the means of defending all your other rights and freedoms. And while I don’t know the route that brought Connie and Mark to the same conclusions, it is a demonstrated fact that they have not only lived by that principle, they have sacrificed all to preserve freedom of speech in Canada (and, by extension, all Magna Carta countries) and have put their financial and physical security – their very well being on the line to protect anonymous speech (in their case, on the internet), which is so very crucial in preventing the abrogation of free speech in public spaces.
OK – I have now sketched in the background so that you, my dear reader, are aware of what I know, think and whatever prejudices I may have regarding my review of Connie Fournier’s new book: ‘Betrayed! Stephen Harper’s War on Principled Conservatism’.
One more thing before I start: here is a most excellent review of the book by Jay Currie (and, no, I did not read his review before I had made my own mind up). The comments are excellent!
The Review:
‘Betrayed! Stephen Harper’s War on Principled Conservatism’ by Connie Fournier is a truly scary book.
Connie Fournier is both intelligent and eloquent and has the skill to line the little pearls up, one by one, till they form a brilliant necklace – or an effective noose…
Yes, I saw a part of the journey that Connie so accurately describes in her book – but I truly only saw a small part. Yet, step by step, event by event, convoluted happening by convoluted happening, she lights the path and puts forward some very convincing evidence that points not just to the corruption of our ‘progressive’ leaning bureaucracy but also demonstrated how the Harper ‘iron fist’ is affecting things behind the scenes (whether through direct action or through carefully selective inaction). Limited by the legal rulings still muzzling her, she succeeds in getting the important points across in a logical, accurate and believable manner.
This book has bought into focus the consistency with which the Harper government has sought to control, regulate and stifle internet communication. The book stops before the Trans Pacific Trade Treaty – again, a Harper government ‘baby’, the leaks about which prove the veracity of everything else written in the book.
Yes, I would recommend it as a read – even though I disagree with Connie’s conclusion that the Green Party would be the natural place to cast a protest vote for. No – I think the Pirate Party of Canada is a much better candidate, as their abid opposition to Bill C-51 is coupled with opposition to copyright consumer right abuses that the TPTT imposes as a supra-national law. If there is no Pirate Party candidate in your riding, please, do consider running for them. If my health were better, I most certainly would do my best to try to run for them!
But, again, I digress…
This is an important book to read for everyone who understands the crucial role freedom of speech plays and who would like help navigating the legal jungle of bills and attempts to deny it to us, the citizens – especially as it relates to the electronic medium.
Whether neo-Con or not, this book will open your eyes to the systematic process that is already in place to persecute political foes of the party in power and is written in such an accessible way that even non-techies will understand the implications of the proposed muzzling legislation coming from Harper’s ‘Conservative’ government.
Everyone of my relatives and friends will be getting a copy from me!
“Animal rights come before religion”
July 30, 2015 — xanthippaFinally, somebody really, really gets it!
Just because somebody believes in an ancient myth does not give them the right to torture animals in the name of that silly myth!
And now, Denmark has banned the religious exemption for Halal and Kosher slaughterers not to adhere to humane slaughtering practices.
Yes!
Yes!!!
YES!!!
From Time.com:
‘The ban, which requires slaughterhouse workers to stun animals before killing them, will now extend to religious communities that were previously afforded an exemption. “Animal rights come before religion,” Danish minister for agriculture and food Dan Jørgensen told Denmark’s TV2.’
Finally, one place where common sense and human compassion wins out over irrational beliefs!
‘Orange Is the New Black’ on bookburning
June 15, 2015 — xanthippaYou know that something is part of ‘the culture’ when it keeps showing up in pop culture.
Personally, I enjoy watching Netfix – and one of their shows is ‘Orange Is the New Black’: a show about a posh girl who, while young and ‘experimenting’, had crossed some lines and now has to pay the price in prison. It is a fun show, based (loosely, I presume) on a real life story, that makes us re-examine the whole ‘drug war’ and related issues.
OK!
Another thing I like is binge-watching shows: so, the Netflix ‘thing’ of releasing a whole season of a show at once pleases me beyond explanation. Perhaps it is the Aspie in me, but, I have a difficult time going from one world to another. So, when a show paints an alternate world for me (like, say, fictionalized life in prison), it takes me hours to transition from that world to my reality and vice versa. Which means that it only makes sense that I should watch all the episodes back-to-back!
Right?!?!?
Alas, the real world tends to intrude….which is why it was not until tonight that I saw this particularly salient line in the show…
Background:
The women’s prison celebrates ‘Mother’s Day’ with particularly open visitation from the babies/children of the inmates. As a direct result of the families’ visits, the women’s prison becomes infested with both scabies and bedbugs.
In order to combat the infestations, the prison burns all possibly infested items: from mattresses to prison uniforms to…the books in the library.
The pertinent line:
All the books in the prison library had been burned, as they had all been infested with bed-bugs….except for one book – the book that nobody had dared to burn!
The prison had been left with a single, bed-bug-infested book: a copy of the Koran….
Draw Muhammed Day – so, what next?
June 4, 2015 — xanthippaIt has been two weeks since my failed attempt to hold a Draw Muhammed Day event on Canada’s Parliament Hill.
To read what had transpired then, please see my posts on the topic.
In the aftermath, everybody wanted to know what was I going to do next?
To be honest, my failure had taught me just how naive I was when it came to this issue. Yes, I knew I had to DO something – but I didn’t want another failure. So, the first thing to do was to learn.
In the last two weeks, I spoke and corresponded with many peoples: some passionate, some intelligent, some knowledgeable – and most a combination of the above. I got a lot of suggestions and a lot of advice.
One neighbour of mine asked me why I would bother with this – when I could be gardening or doing something else fun. I pointed out I had kids and could not leave the country in a worse shape for them than it was when I came here. He just shook his head and drove away.
Another neighbour, whom I had considered a friend, ‘jokingly’ suggested that perhaps I should move, so that her house does not get shot up by accident when ‘they’ come for me…
But most people were actively supportive and gave me some constructive criticism and good advice.
One suggestion I got from a large number of people went something along the following lines:
- freedom of speech is guaranteed as our Constitutional right
- so is freedom of assembly
- Parliament Hill is a public area – perhaps THE public area and as such, it belongs to all of us Canadians
- therefore, don’t get any permits and just show up with a group of people and do your thing
While I agree with this in principle, there is more to it that just the principle…
You see, there is an organization that is in charge of the activities on Parliament Hill. It’s some kind of a committee – of course…how else can the bureaucrats avoid individual responsibility – but, it exists for several very practical reasons.
It is necessary to co-ordinate the various events, for simple logistics reasons.
And it is also their responsibility to, through the RCMP, provide security on The Hill (or, in their shorthand, PH).
So while I reject any suggestion that they have the right to judge the substance of the protests in PH (and their multi-page guide to the use of PH indeed does reserve this right – down to who will speak and what they will say and to limit this to what will ‘fit their image’), I do understand the practical necessity of crowd control and event co-ordination.
In addition, it seems that if I am deemed to trespass on PH, this organization has the right to get me arrested. And while I think freedom of speech is a worthy issue – worthy enough to go to jail for – I am not certain if getting arrested for ‘trespassing’ has the same impact. (Which, of course, why this loophole is there…)
So, this is not the course of action I plan to take right now.
Others have urged me to go the Texas route: to rent a private venue and private security to hold the event.
And while the Garland, Texas, event was a success story (yes, a couple if ISIS goons showed up, but security dispatched them quickly and nobody besides the terrorists got killed – so, despite the media negative spin, this WAS a success story), it feels too much like trying to hold a free speech event in an unmarked basement room with nobody really knowing about it. And a sign on the door saying ‘beware of the leopard’…
Yes, I am exaggerating – but with my highly limited media reach (I’m no Pamela Geller), I’m not exaggerating anywhere as much as I’d like to.
So, for now, that is also not a preferred course of action.
Then there were those who said that any form of blasphemy is ‘not nice’ and that it is an abuse of the freedom of speech to use it for the purpose of blasphemy. (These are the same people who say “I am for freedom of speech, BUT…”)
To you, I say that without the freedom to blaspheme, there would be no freedom of religion!
Yes, truly!!!
If I were not permitted to blaspheme most Christian’s belief that Jesus Christ was/is the son of God, born of a human woman, who was crucified as a human sacrifice of his corporeal self to his divine self to atone for the sins of humanity – then I would not be free to worship as a Muslim.
If I were not permitted to blaspheme the Muslim belief that Jesus was fathered by a human and did not die on the cross, I would not be free to worship as a Roman Catholic and many Protestant sects.
If I were not permitted to blaspheme the Hindu belief in many deities, then I would not be free to worship as a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew or any other forms of monolatrism/monotheism.
And that is barely scratching the surface!
It is no coincidence that religious books/teachings are exempt from hate-speech laws, because they all hate-speech each other!!! Which, of course, leaves atheists and ignostics (I do consider myself an ignostic more than anything else) at a bit of a disadvantage: if everyone else is free to blaspheme and even hate-speech each other’s religion, why are we not allowed to even civil-ly criticize any of them?
NO – blasphemy is not only good, it is absolutely necessary for freedom of religion – and freedom from religion – to exist!!!
Which still leaves me with the question…
What to do? What to do?!?!?
First thing on my list was a bit of self-education.
If the reason my original event was cancelled was due to ‘security concerns’, then I had better educate myself on this topic in particular.
OK, perhaps picking the International Draw Muhammed Day was not the best for security’s sake. Perhaps I should pick a less inflammatory date, like, say September 11th – but I jest!
The next item on my list was to learn a little bit about security, public spaces and events and both the theory and how to in that. I was in luck!
As it so happened, yesterday, 3rd of June, 2015 (exactly 2 weeks to the day when I had intended to hold my failed event), the International Security Conference & Exposition was held in Ottawa – just across the street from the big RCMP building!!! What luck!!!
Of course, I could not miss an educational opportunity like this!
In my usual bumbling manner, I asked for directions at a hotel nearby the convention centre – and got very exact ones from a nice lady at the front desk. I followed them to the letter and soon found a room. Seeing people within, I boldly entered….only to find out that this was ‘the speaker’s lounge’!
Eventually, I found the registration desk, got my badge – and soon found the room with the seminar I knew I could not miss: ‘Securing Public Spaces’.
It was awesome,
A moderator from The Hill Times (a sponsor) had three most esteemed panelists: David Harris, Director, International and Terrorist Intelligence Program INSIGNIS Strategic Research Inc., some Commie prof from Carleton U who kept insisting that policing causes income disparity (and boasted of helping Greece organize their policing…really, I’m not making this up) and a lady from the City of Ottawa who is in charge of emergency stuff.
The moderator and two thirds of the panel were most excellent!
Joking aside, I really learned a lot about both the theoretical as well as practical aspects of policing public areas.
So, I feel that with my newly acquired knowledge, I might be better able to co-operate (I will NOT ‘collaborate’ – where I come from, collaborators are lined up against the wall and shot – and I am most definitely against violence of any sort) with the powers that control PH.
Perhaps with a different date – one that will work for them and not be so provocative – we can still succeed in having this equal-opportunity blasphemy event on PH.
So, my next step will be to re-contact the power that be and see what hoops I need to jump through to get this event happening!
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 