Switzerland Votes to Ban Minarets
min⋅a⋅ret
–noun a lofty, often slender, tower or turret attached to a mosque, surrounded by or furnished with one or more balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer.
(from Dictionary.com)
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On the 29th of November, Switzerland voted to ban the new construction of minarets. The Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has put forth this proposal, claiming that minarets are a symbol of “Islamisation.”
57% of the votes and 22 out of 26 provinces voted in favour of the ban. The government has opposed the ban in the preset that it would harm Switzerland’s image, especially in the Muslim world.
Martin Baltisser, the SVP’s general secretary said, “This was a vote against minarets as symbols of Islamic power.” This vote is believed to stop the threat of radical fundamentalism.
Islam is the second biggest religion in Switzerland after Christianity, with 400, 000 Muslim citizens and there are only four minarets in the whole country. Proposals to build more minarets are almost always refused.
Supporters believe that the minaret is a symbol of Islamic power and hope to stop the growth of Sharia Law which may try to supplement Swiss democracy.
Many believe that this campaign has been incited by hatred. Amnesty International has said that the vote violated freedom of religion.
Elham Manea, co-founder of the Forum for a Progressive Islam said this about what the vote represents towards Muslims, “It’s a message that you are not welcome here as true citizens of this society.”
‘Despicable’
I find this vote to be absolutely absurd and definitely incited by hatred towards Islam and its followers. Minarets a symbol of Islamic power? That’s the most the hilarious thing I’ve heard since a man said that America won the Vietnam war.
As a Muslim, I can clearly say that minarets are not a symbol of Islamic power. And building more does not mean that there is “Islamisation” going on. Are the Swiss really that idiotic?
Clearly, this vote is nothing but hatred against Muslims, saying that they do not belong anywhere in Europe. This violates freedom of religion!
Churches can have all sorts of stained glass and towers, but mosques cannot have even the smallest minaret? If this is not hatred towards Islam then what is it?
Europe is fearing something that does not exist, Islam is not trying to take over. Muslims are just trying to practice their religion as is decreed by the Qur’an. Yes, there is radical fundamentalism going on, but it is by the smallest amount of radicals that shouldn’t be feared.
If minarets are banned first, then Hijabs will be banned, soon the sale and purchase of Qur’ans will be banned, and then what next? Muslims will be banned from travelling to Europe altogether?
If creating such laws and banning freedoms continues like this, then obviously radical fundamentalism will be on the rise. There is no doubt that more extremism will continue.
Switzerland and Europe had created an extreme of its own, and radical Muslims are using their own form of extremism to combat the first. It’s like fighting fire with fire.
I only hope that this ban is appealed before “Islamophobia” is dramatically rises ever more.
A Comparison Between Two Presidents
Now I’m sure we’ve all been hearing about the new president of the European Union. It’s the biggest news that has hit tabloids around the world. Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy was chosen as the president of the EU. Rompuy officially beings his new post on December 1.
He has landed a powerful job, one that some could argue reflects the power and jurisdiction of the American president. Yet, what is the real difference between the two most powerful leaders in the world? There are a few main differences, and I’ve found that an article on the BBC’s News website describes it best.
Check out the following link, and see who is more powerful.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8363297.stm
Wife Posed As Young Girl In Online Trap
The wife of 68 year old David Roberts posed as a young girl in a chat room to catch her husband approaching girls. Through her suspicions, 61 year old Cheryl Roberts was able to catch her husband and had called the police. Police seized Roberts’ computer and found various cases of illegal child porn images.
As Roberts’ was talking to the “so-called” 14 year old girl, he had no idea that the girl was actually his wife chatting with him from a different computer in the house.
David Roberts has been charged with a three year community order and has been prohibited having access to persons 18 years and younger.
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Chris Hansen, look out. You’re not the only one who can catch a predator.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8357454.stm
Movember
Welcome to the month of Movember! The one greatest month in the year succeeding October and preceding December! Now you might be asking: “Don’t you mean November?” 
Ha, ha, ha! Not at all, silly! It’s Movember! The month where men all around the world cultivate their pride and glory under their nose.
Movember is an annual event that spans the complete month of November, when men and even women, grow their mustaches in support prostate cancer.
On the first of November everyone starts clean shaven and grows their mustache from then on until the end of November.
The whole point is to create awareness of prostate cancer and raise funds in order to put in research to this cancer that attacks men everywhere. Movember started in Australia in 1999, and now it has spanned internationally.
I myself am participating in this event! It has been a little over a week and I already look a lot like my dad (and a Mexican – no offense =P). I will be documenting my wonder lip-tickler growth and posting the final result at the end – so please look forward to that!
If you would like to support the cause and donate towards it, please help me and my team out by donating at the following link:
http://ca.movember.com/mospace/433054/
Hey Is That Chris Bosh? Jump The Line!
Misleading title is meant to be a little misleading but I assure you this has to do with several athletes. It started off with the Calgary Flames jumping the line so them and their families could get the H1N1 vaccine early. Now they shouldn’t even be getting considering the H1N1 shot was for priority groups only, but the likes of Jarome Iginla, and Dion Phanuef have become priority. Those priorities to the H1N1 shot include pregnant women, children between the age of 6 months and 5 years, people under the age of 65 with chronic conditions and those living in remote communities. Now I thought that this would be the only time we heard of a sports team jumping the line so to speak.
But, today it was reported both the Toronto Raptors, and the Toronto Maple Leafs had athletes receive the shot now this is just plain outrageous considering the suspected death of a two month old baby by H1N1. The Maple Leafs should feel even more disgraced to the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario especially with their mediocre start to the NHL season. Seriously these athletes are making more then a million a year for most of them, and I think any one of the athletes who went early should be fined. Maybe $10,000 dollars or some amount that seems feasible because their are tons of people who get seriously ill and could die. They didn’t deserve their shots early its as simple as that.
Obama Boycotts Fox News
Sort of a late response to this excellent news but I thought I’d cover it anyway. I’m very happy to see that the president of the US of A has boycotted one of the many poisons that inflicts America everyday. I’m talking about Fox News. From pundits like Glenn Beck to Bill O’rielly, Fox News is a mess of uncharted propaganda meant to send everything to Hell.
I am absolutely appalled over the fact that it took the president to say something against Fox News about its credibility before the media and everyday citizens took upon that fact. It just goes to show how the media cannot function independently.
A specific angle of the media has come back to haunt Obama’s boycott, that is now criticizing his words. These mostly speak about how Fox News can do just about whatever it wants, and that Obama boycotting them is wrong; something that apparently goes “against free speech.” I find this quite ridiculous because, I swear free speech means that you can say just about anything about well, anything.
I agree with Obama’s choice, and I am happy to see that someone at the top is taking action against the despicable people behind Fox News. Perhaps now people will come to realize what sort of BS Fox News is spouting to them everyday, and hopefully people don’t swallow it all up as factual debate.
The sooner Fox News is realized as a decrepit comedy channel like Onion News, the sooner the world might come to peace.
For The Sake Of Deprivation
I have realized since the beginning of summer that it is hard to live a life of insane amounts of, well no sleep. You could say it was as an idiot mistake to make to assume that 30 minutes to an hour of sleep to last me 40 hours would be a bad idea. But I still went through with it, because the facts are I just didn’t sleep and half the time I couldn’t. It all started in September when my bed broke, I was sleeping on the couch and eventually just took my mattress and stuck it straight on the floor of my basement bedroom. Note to self, it was even colder only a 50cm difference between the bed and the floor it was terrible I found myself wrapped in blankets and sheets even though it was warm throughout the house. It didn’t take long before not sleeping effected the way I acted in school a lot of people assumed I was dead half the time.
It didn’t take long before I fell asleep in class, the feeling of waking up at the end of class not knowing what the homework had been and having people saying that only a couple of people noticed I had fallen asleep. Listening to music from the likes of Lou Reed to Breaking Benjamin to Mos Def I just had a hard time running my everyday life, I’d doze off out of nowhere. Felt like I woke up in a different place but in fact I was the same place I was when I fall asleep it was like the protagonist in Fight Club. I could say it a million times that I wasn’t tired but my body was simply shutting down half the time and I would try ignore the feeling that seemed to always kick in. At almost exactly eleven a.m. I would feel a feeling of tiredness to move my legs to move anything and even on school days this was very annoying.
Then it happened a moment of realization, last week on Thursday when my school had an early release day (meaning we get out 4 hours earlier) I had totally blanked out after having a shower, I woke up like five o’clock in the afternoon my eyes heavier then how my legs had felt. I looked at the clock and literally yelled the word “Fuck” Three times, I had missed not one but two tests and it was a moment that the insomnia had gotten me, it had made me stay up and it had made me fall asleep in the morning. My dad had thought I was dead nearly, alarm ringing all day my phone going off as well with about 20ish text messages missed. It was terrible and that was the day I decided I should change for the better of things, to put an end to the insomnia once and for all.
But the other fucked up thing was when I tried to go to sleep, by reading countless articles on WikiHow almost like self help articles I had conquered it averaging about 8 hours of sleep on the weekdays and 12 on the weekends (which is way too much) But I’m glad that I can finally carry out a conversation without nodding off, I still look dead in the morning. But Im secretly a zombie, so it’s all good.
Happy Thanksgiving!
If there’s one holiday I love (and one that has not been completely tainted by consumerism), it’s Thanksgiving. One day where families come together to have a nice turkey (or chicken if you find turkey too dry like myself) dinner and have a day of special bonding.
Although the Canadian Thanksgiving lands on a date completely different from that of the American Thanksgiving, we both share the same harmonious values on this day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tatum EB Hope
What is EB? EB stands for Epidermolysis Bullosa – a very rare genetic disease. The disease causes one’s skin to be extremely fragile and blisters easily to the slightest rub or touch. An estimated 50 in 1 million newborns are diagnosed with EB. Most children with this disease do not survive into adulthood. There is no cure for this disease.
A special little girl named Tatum Blackwell suffers from this extremely rare disease. She deals with blisters, tears, scars and various other injuries everyday. Unfortunately, it is not only through contact that her skin can blister; extremely hot conditions can also cause the skin to tear.
Not many people know about this disease. I know I had no clue until I met a new friend this summer. Although the disease is horrible, what’s worse is that the necessities that are required to deal with the scars and blisters are not covered by OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan).
That is why her friends and family are attempting to create an EB Awareness Week in Canada through Tatum’s Walk for Hope! The U.S.A. already has an awareness week – yet Canada does not. This week occurs during October 25-31.The purpose of this week is to create awareness of EB, and let people know what it is and attempt to find a cure for it.
For more information on Epidermolysis Bullosa, check out the following website:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1062939-overview
To help with EB Awareness and find out more about Tatum Blackwell, visit this site:
http://www.tatumebhope.org/
Let us all work together in letting everyone know about EB – and find a cure for it!
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