The Penguin Menace

I was perusing the list of the Top Ten Challenged Books of 2010 compiled by the American Library Association and saw that the book that topped the list for 2010 and has made the list every year since 2006 is entitled And Tango Makes Three. "Ok," I thought, "It's another one of those coming of age books that has a hot and steamy ménage à trois that likely upsets some of the folks back home."

But no. It's about two penguins in a zoo, both male, who take a shine to each other and try to hatch a stone. The zookeepers take pity on them and give them an egg to hatch. Tango results. So yeah, I get the subtle message.* So what? For me it's still a cute story of a couple of silly penguins. But for some it's even worse than Dick and Jane and Jill getting jiggy wid it. We've got your back door homosexual indoctrination going on. (And you needn't excuse the pun.)

If someone has problems with homosexuality don't censor the book. Use this as a learning moment. Get a copy and sit down with your kids and READ it to them. You could take my point of view and say, "Isn't that silly!" At worse it would result in the kids running around thinking gays are silly. Or you could read the book to your kids and if little Betty Sue asks, "Why did two boy penguin want to be a Mommy and a Daddy?" you could respond, "Because they're penguins, dear, and they don't know any better."

*I find the direct approach, that while still silly, much more entertaining. Enjoy.

News That's Print To Fit

Usually I see this quality of news in the Ersay FanBoy Sheet (a.k.a. the Indystar) but it crops up on Fox59:

Rally held for USPS downtown Tuesday

In toto:

Hoosiers gathered at a rally Tuesday in a hope to save the U.S. Postal Service and keep 120,000 people from losing their jobs.

The demonstration was held downtown at the Julia Carson* Center.

USPS is set to announce $10 billion in losses when the current fiscal year ends at midnight Friday.

Ralliers said they hope to draw attention to Democratic-backed legislation that could help solve the financial crisis.

This doesn't tell me much. It does tell me that it was at the Julia Carson Center* and that it was a rally to draw attention to Democrat legislation. But it doesn't tell me how few people were there. Wanna guess why?

*May God push her downwards. And yes, I said that about your grandma, Andre.

Prudes

Saw this:

'L Word' Actress Leisha Hailey Tweets She Was Kicked Off Southwest Airlines Flight After Kissing Girlfriend

In part:

SWA later tweeted this statement, which did not mention Hailey by name: "Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive.

Shit, I'd consider that in-flight entertainment.

The Irony It Is Sweet

Ugandans say they were beaten and forced from homes to make room for carbon credit forest

All I have to say is:

3D Printing

This pleases me. 3D printing AR-15 lowers. Power to the people!

3D printed AR-15 parts challenge firearm regulation

Grammar

I saw:

Appalicious Makes the Mac App Store More Efficient

and thought, "No. Appalicious is an adjective, not a noun. Like describing the experience of being buggered by a hillbilly as 'appalicious.'

Spread The Joy

Saw this:

NFL: All 16.6 Million Ticket-Holders Should Receive Additional Frisking Before Entering Stadium

And after a bit of reflection, I'm behind it 100 percent. It's a perfect opportunity for the TSA to 'leverage' what they do so well and allow another segment of the American electorate to get up close and personal with the government they continue to tolerate.

Obligatory 9/11 Post

Some of you may not like this but, inspired by
Tam's post, I need to say this:

I'm at the same time angered, saddened, and disgusted by the 10th Anniversary 9/11 falderal.

We've given up so many of our freedoms to the Federal Government and the Department of Homeland Security in a misguided rush to display some patriotism and a need for some sense of security. I think a more honest action tomorrow would be to hand-in-hand march out to the nearest airport terminal and passively stand in line to get felt up by the the TSA in a celebration of Al-Qaeda Victory Day.

Welcome to IUPUI!

It's going to be a good school year!

Shari'ah in America?

Don’t Fear Islamic Law in America

Application of the Shari'ah in the United States?

Interesting concept. But here's the problem. And this is from someone with a PhD centered in Islamic Studies, not some ill-educated yutz from the New York Times:

Shari'ah (way, path, road in Arabic) has a number of components. Its core is theocratic, that is, those revelations found in the Qur'an that are legalistic. There are about 600 verses that could be considered legalistic with only about 80 specific ones. Thus the Shari'ah also draws from the ahadith (sing. hadith) that are reports of the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, that is, what he said or did or allowed to be said or done in his presence. The idea here is that Muhammad, being a prophet of God, was most familiar with God's intentions as to how a person should behave himself.

Another component of the Shari'ah are the decisions of religious scholars/jurists made by interpreting the above sources and applying them to the circumstances before them. For the majority of Muslims, the Sunni-s, this ijtihad (original jurisprudence) was stopped in the 10th cen. CE and after that only applied interpretations of these original decisions allowed. For the Shi'ah jurisprudence never stopped and also includes the ahadith of twelve Imams.*

But a fairly large part of the Shari'ah, and something that I think allowed Islam to quickly expand** in the first century and half of its existence, is local tradition modified by and modifying the other parts of the Shari'ah. Thus the Shari'ah in one area is not necessarily the same Shari'ah one would find elsewhere. The result of this can be seen in the extreme example of the various ways adultery is punished in different Islamic countries.

So knowing this, my questions for those calling for the application of the Shari'ah ANYWHERE are:

Which Shari'ah?

And who gets to decide?

*This is another lecture.
**By around 710 CE areas under Islamic control stretched from the Pillars of Hercules to the banks of the Indus River.

h/t Alphecca