Another Tack: A convenient untruth US Secretary of State John Kerry may lack that mischievous twinkle ever-present in Vice President Joe Biden’s eyes, but, despite his seemingly earnest demeanor, Kerry is no less likely than Biden to put his foot in his mouth. Take, for example, the analogy that Kerry drew between the Boston bombing victims […]
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=4207 The dishonest sexual harassment debate Every time a case of sexual misconduct hits the headlines, the public is treated to yet another round of heated debates on the issue. The trouble is that nothing new is ever introduced into the discussion. The exposure this week of broadcast journalist Emmanuel Rosen’s alleged history of abusing […]
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/297405-the-fracking-gas-war In 2012, National Geographic told us, “Unlike CO2, methane affects human health, because it is a precursor of smog.” Now the Environmental Defense Fund tells us, “… each pound of methane is 72 times more powerful at increasing the retention of heat in the atmosphere than a pound of carbon dioxide.” So, what is […]
Islamic city council bans female flatulence in Indonesia
Jasmin Mathew PhD http://wadiyan.com/author/admin/ Mar 8th, 2013
An Islamic city council in the Indonesian province of Aceh, which follows Sharia, has banned female citizens from passing gas.
Sayyid Yahia, mayor of the city, told media that a ban was needed, as farting does not go well with the Islamic values of modesty. “Muslim women are not allowed to fart with sound, it’s against Islamic teachings,” he said. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Feminists Association told local media they will attempt to block the smelly law as they deem it discriminatory.
Talking to The Wadiyan, mayor Sayyid Yahia said the law aims to save people’s morals and behaviors. “When you see woman fart loud, she appears like a man. But if she sit sideways and pass it quietly, she looks like a woman,” Sayyid said.
Although the proposed law does not ban “quiet fart,” passing gas with sound is actually not uncommon in Southeast Asia, particularly for women consuming potatoes and peas. Obviously, women maintain that they feel healthier, farting loud. Fathima Khan, a medical doctor at the Al Banni Islamic Hospital in Aceh’s capital is critical of the proposed law: “There is no need to question this practice, let alone regulate it, because people do it for their health and safety,” she said.
The mayor declined to give The Wadiyan details of what the punishment would be for violators. While another member at the City council, who wished not to be named, said if convicted by the Sharia court, the offender could receive 20 lashes for small farts and up to 3 months prison time for larger ones.
On another note, the local Islamic scholars were mostly divided over the law. Well-known Muslim activists like Bshar Abdulla voiced his objection, “How to pass gas is not regulated in Sharia. There is no mention of it in the Koran,” he said on his Twitter account. However, “the Islamic tradition and the values of modesty does not support women farting loud,” said Mehmood Hussain, a scholar and staunch supporter of the law.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/The-two-state-psychosis-The-Oslo-Syndrome-revisited-311914 People under siege end up blaming themselves for their enemies’ hatred toward them, delude themselves about the malicious intentions of their foes. There were many cogent critiques of the Oslo process. But none addressed why Israel’s leaders, supported by the nation’s academic and cultural elites and much of the broader population, were pursuing a […]
http://send.hadavars.com/index.php?action=message&l=2096&c=18006&m=16486&s=ae9d24298db59fadbcfcb5a3d086dc62 The recycled Arab League peace proposal – based on the Palestinian claim of return and the1967 lines with mutually agreed land swap – attempts to sell oceanfront property in Arizona. If Israel would buy it, the Arab League would throw the Golden Gate in free. Those who welcome the Arab League proposal demonstrate suspension […]
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13230 In 1975 the United Nations General Assembly passed its infamous resolution equating Zionism with racism. Although rescinded some years later, it established a plan for delegitimizing Israel by undermining Jewish national claims and rewriting history. That plan continues today, finding expression in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (“BDS”) movement, the left-wing obsession to brand […]
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Unmasking-anti-Semitism-311730 As Europe and other countries around the world become aggressively more anti-Semitic, and antagonism towards the State of Israel escalates, there is a need for careful assessment of the nature of anti-Semitism. What is the reason more and more Europeans deny Israel’s right to exist and wish to boycott its universities and products? How […]
http://www.campus-watch.org/blog/2013/05/anti-semite-ali-mazrui-honored-by-alwaleed-bin On May 6, 2010, Ali Mazrui, director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at SUNY-Binghamton, made the following statement to an audience at Columbia University: The population of Jews in the US is three percent … but [their ‘genius’] leads to their controlling so much power that even presidents are scared [of them]. Whether [President Barack] Obama […]
http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/6423/features/they-all-could-have-been-saved-2/?print
The HBO special 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus is a magnificently produced and beautifully edited documentary. Steve Pressman has creatively reworked, for a commercial network, his 2010 film To Save a Life, about his wife’s grandparents, a privileged Philadelphia Jewish couple who did the impossible and sought no recognition for their incredible heroism. 50 Children tells its main story with passion, clarity, precision, and justifiable pride. The Krauses are an inspiration; Steven Pressman is a worthy steward of his family’s legacy.
Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a well-off and highly assimilated Jewish couple from Philadelphia with two school-age children of their own, went to Vienna by themselves after Hitler’s annexation of Austria, rescued 50 Jewish children, and took them home to Philadelphia. The HBO documentary tells their story through photographs, old newsreels, and archival materials, supplemented by taped interviews with some of their descendants. What emerges is a compelling but strangely incomplete story.
For one thing, the film says nothing about the Krauses’ earlier religious life and leaves the impression that they really didn’t have one. But in fact, Gilbert Kraus was confirmed at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in 1913. The synagogue’s rabbi, Dr. Joseph Krauskopf, preached a message of “rescue” from the Jewish slums of the City of Brotherly Love. Following a daring trip to Czarist Russia and a conversation with Leo Tolstoy, Krauskopf created the Farm School (today the Delaware Valley College) to help poor children. Gilbert Kraus heard his rabbi’s benevolent message throughout his youth and from the pulpit at his confirmation. And we hear Eleanor, in the course of the film, recall how she fervently prayed that God would be with the parents of the children entrusted to her and her husband.
