11.11.11 - what's so special?

[Following is a AFP report, taken from the Al Arabiya news site last Monday, 7 Nov. 2011]

This coming Friday at 49 minutes before noon, people around the globe will experience a numerically auspicious hour and date unlike any other in modern times: 11:11, on 11/11/11.

While millions may marvel at the once-per-century string of ones on their clocks, mobile devices and calendars, to be sure much of humanity will hardly bat an eye.

But many numerologists, metaphysicists, psychics and their followers, occultists and conspiracy theorists will be watching for signs of some broad humanistic awakening, a harmonic convergence, even a portal opening into a new dimension, as some experts predict a major “shift in consciousness.”

Eid-ul-Azha: Time maybe to make a sacrifice for the sacrifice

Angels stop Abraham as he sacrifices Isaac

With Eid-ul-Azha just concluded across the world, I can't help but look back at this Muslim tradition as an enormous waste of resource... particularly when it is set against the number of people in the world and the significantly growing number of animals that that are sacrificed on this one day.

I should say that as part of the Muslim fraternity, my childhood was linked to this tradition (but I'm glad to also say that we were never a rabid follower of this tradition).

You see I can understand the significance of the story behind the day and can even appreciate Abraham's devotion to God that he would willingly (albeit with most likely a father's heavy heart) sacrifice his son.


Press 'play' for podcast of this article.

Alas, can I admit that my devotion would not be strained in the least were I to be put to the same test, because I would not consider it.

Greetings on Eid Ul Azha

911: A conspiracy, not just theory

There are probably dozens (if not more) conspiracy theories about what happened on 9/11 and whether in fact Al Qaeda was in fact responsible.

I for one was never convinced that Osama bin Laden was behind the hijacking and the resulting destruction in the US that day. A lot of it never made any sense to me – most importantly the motive was never clear.

I mean if you look at the facts as they have played out neither Osama bin Laden nor his Al Qaeda movement has benefited in the least... if anything they have lost much more.

But then who has benefited?

Providence saves

Going through the papers a particular news item caught my eye and reminded me of providence.

It seems a Sri Lankan trawler was detained in South Africa earlier last month after it had docked at a South African port to pick up bunkers.

The ship was scheduled to depart for Sierra Leone, however, after an ad hoc inspection by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) the ship was detained because it did not have any safety equipment on board.

The owner argued that such was not a requirement as part of Sri Lankan rules only to be told that at a South African port the ship had to meet South African rules. The owner reluctantly bought the requisite safety equipment and had it installed to be allowed to set sail.

500 day journey ends without ever beginning

It never ceases to amaze me the extents man is capable of going in the name of science. This week six people will re-enter civilisation after 520 days inside a isolation facility designed to simulate a trip to Mars.

The facility located in at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow. The six 'astronauts,' comprising of an international crew of three Russians, a French man, an Italian and a Chinese man, have been inside a windowless capsule since June 2010. The core of the mission was to test whether it is in fact psychologically possible for man to survive the trip.

When they come out this Friday, the answer will be an emphatic (if, I think, a cautious) 'yes.'

“Facts” about Gaddafi

In my estimation death brings out the best and then the worst in a lot of people. I have been commenting on the two high-profile deaths last month October – that of Steve Jobs and then Muammar Gaddafi.

The media was filled by reports, anecdotes and factoids that were flamboyant in its praise for Jobs as it was in its disdain for Gaddafi.

Then a few days go by and the frenzy dissipates into a trickle, suddenly the reports, anecdotes and factoids in the media are no longer as rosy or rabid as they once were.

Jobs is being portrayed more and more as a dictator and a hard man to get along with; someone who bullied his way to getting what he wanted, and in the way he wanted it.

Suddenly there are reports on Gaddafi's benevolence.

On All Hallow's Eve

Today is Halloween. And while typically I have never celebrated by dressing up and foraging for candy... I live Halloween through the exploits of my children, since Halloween is slowly becoming a global event as it finds popularity in more and more countries.

I came across this blog post on 'My Modern Met' about a Ray Villafane pumpkin carver extraordinaire! Villafene does not carve a pumpkin like a typical Jack-o-Lantern but puts an animated face on his carved creations.

When I saw the various animated faces on the pumpkins I immediately knew that these were amazing pieces of art that i HAD to share.

What does it take to be human?

This has been a week of events that I feel strains my belief that there is a humanity in all of us; a humanity that makes us human (and not something less).

Two events in particular have been thoroughly disturbing.

The first is the murder in cold blood of Muammar Gaddafi – who was a tired, broken man begging for mercy when he was eventually captured. That anyone could brutally murder a helpless man who had surrendered to his captor's good heart is beyond me.

Granted Gaddafi was less that merciful of his detractors and perhaps was due what was meted to him. Just because he was less than human does not give his captors the same license – after all a man cannot still be a man if he subsequently chooses to bite the dog that has bitten him.

Re-routing Dhaka metro – how much is being compromised?

As the debate continues about the new metro route in Dhaka and on which side of the old Tejgaon airport the MRT line will finally land, one wonders at the fluid opportunism of the political bickering.

Questions arise whether the line has been moved at the behest of the air force, the current custodian of the airport, who were reportedly concerned about the security risks that an elevated rail system travelling alongside it might raise.

Then there was suggestions that the metro would entail aircraft landing on only half of the runway due to clearance issues on approach from the south end (perhaps aircraft could make the approach from the north end without such a concern?) so there is now talk of the line alongside Rokeya Sharani beside the parliament building.

You can never tell with kids

Parents can never really be sure how their young children would take to exciting news and special holiday announcements.

In many cases it is the parents rather than the children who are more excited. For parents watching their children react to the news and squeal out in pleasure when presented with an exciting vacation opportunity is plenty reward.

An Atlanta-based couple were so excited about planning a Disney World holiday for their children that they decided to break the news to them with a handycam handy to tape what they were expecting would be over the top reactions.

Global crisis alphabet starts with a 'Dubya'

The world seems to be in perpetual chaos. If it isn't a natural disaster, it's a war; if it isn't a war, it's civil unrest; if it isn't civil unrest, it's a prolonged recession; if it's isn't a prolonged recession, it's partisan turmoil; if it isn't partisan turmoil, it's a natural disaster...

And so it continues.

Gaddafi needn't have been allowed to die a martyr

Last week I had a rather tongue and cheek go at the media frenzy about the passing of two distinct personalities who died within two short weeks of each other. It seemed that both the passing of Steve Jobs and Muammar Gaddafi spun off countless stories and anecdotes in the media and the social platforms.

The images depicted in the media of the aforementioned personalities could not be more different, where as with the one the media built him up to near impossible heights of achievement and fanfare, the media went to (somewhat) extremes to degrade the other.

Jobs & Gaddafi, more in common than apples

The Arab Spring has claimed its first head. Now while other ill-fated heads of government opposed popular uprising to their own downfall, few opposed it with the viciousness and acrimony of Col. Muammar Gaddafi – swearing against the “rats and dogs” and defiant till the last bullet finally entered his skull.

Here was probably the last great megalomania – so eccentric to the core that he was downright weird. Media reports on Gaddafi are pouring through the internet with each news agency trying to outdo the other with salient details of the man that was.

While the frequency of the reports are beginning to rival that of Steve Jobs' passing, not surprisingly the reports are in direct contrast to the eulogies that the founder of Apple received. While Steve could do little wrong in the wake of his passing, Muammar it seems can do little right in the same circumstances.

Offline circumstances

Living on the Crossroads is in the process of migrating to its own web address: www.blog.crossconnectivity.com

Unfortunately the site is still under construction... and the pages could not be successfully uploaded. Please bear with me. In the meantime 'Living on the Crossroads' will continue to remain on the Blogger server until further notice.

Thanks!

From the ashes comes character

Listening to the radio this morning, the presenter was narrating an incident involving one of his friends.

You see the friend's house had burnt down the night before and he had accompanied him to the site to see what, if anything, could be recovered. As it would be, all that was left was ash and cinders.

Homesickness before death

This morning I woke up with a feeling of loneliness and a grave case of homesickness – I am sure this feeling haunts millions of people who live away from their homeland.

This angst must be worse, particularly when you know you may never see home again. Day before yesterday, eight people were beheaded in a foreign land for crime they may have or have not committed.

Poet Lee in translation

Following is a translation of a poem I discovered recently. The poem was originally in Chinese and was translated by Bruce Lee (Yes, the same. Do you know of another?)

It was intense to learn that Bruce Lee was an accomplished poet who not only wrote his own work but translated the works of others.

Seriously time to take things a little less seriously

I have been accused many times of not taking supposedly serious things not seriously at all, or not seriously enough.

I blame a society that expects increasing solemnity with age. According to these unwritten rules people are supposed to become more planted and mirthless as they age.

It seems that levity becomes conditional as you age; apparently after a certain age, you can only joke among old friends (who are as old as you are), you can joke with little children (who are closely related), you can joke with the spouse (but only on Tuesdays... and then only if it isn't raining), you can joke with the help (if you fancy a illicit hanky panky)... the rules are so bizarre that you'd think I was making this up!

Morals have lowest melt threshold during global meltdowns

The global economy begins to look bleaker with each passing day on growing doubts over Greece's ability to avoid default, which in turn are fuelling fears of global financial turmoil and recession.

Moreover in the backdrop of a declining US economy, a possibility of a prolonged recession, and growing fears over the banking sector's exposure to euro zone sovereign debt (made worse with Germany and France's so far failing attempts to rein in the Euro instability and Italy's shaky financial footing) there seems little to smile about, or, let alone, make light off.

But it seems this is not for the lack of trying.

Divide the nation out of Dhaka

One more in my series on traffic management solutions for my hometown Dhaka. The suggestions are ideas that in my opinion could help ease the traffic mess in Dhaka. As always the idea can just as easily be replicated in all the other cities and towns across Bangladesh to benefit road users... provided intent.

Traffic Management: Lesson 7: Dhaka is only a mega-city by sheer volume of its population and by no means because of its infrastructure and facilities. It is a failed city and soon to be a dead one if we do not get our wits in order and organise and rearrange.

The traffic situation is moot point and testimony that the infrastructure in the city is no where near what it needs to be to simply cope.

Hand of Hope: This you gotta see...

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being
operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb.

Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

Why should you read this obituary?

Michael Stern Hart... all heart

Unfortunately media failed to notice that Michael Stern Hart- founder of the Project Gutenberg- passed away on 6th September.

Here is his obituary:

Michael Stern Hart was born in Tacoma, Washington on March 8, 1947. He died on September 6, 2011 in his home in Urbana, Illinois, at the age of 64. His is survived by his mother, Alice, and brother, Bennett. Michael was an Eagle Scout (Urbana Troop 6 and Explorer Post 12), and served in the Army in Korea during the Vietnam era.

Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects.

Overhauling Dhaka bus business

Yet another in my series on traffic management solutions. The solution presented here is very Dhaka-centric and designed with Bangladeshi characteristics and idiosyncrasies in mind. As always the idea can just as easily be replicated in all the other cities and towns across Bangladesh... and in this case, if this idea is ever implemented, should.

Traffic Management: Lesson 6: Dhaka has little to offer as options in public transport, people can walk, take the rickshaw or jump on an already overcrowded and dilapidated bus run by the government or the private sector.

The buses never run timely but are always run poorly. What Dhaka needs before the metro line or the elevated expressway come is a complete overhaul of the bus system. Mind you people who invest in this sector do so to make money – and the cut-throat nature of the industry extends to how the business is run.

Phasing rickshaws off Dhaka streets

This yet another piece in a series of traffic management articles that I began last week. The ideas presented are particularly designed and thought out with the streets of my hometown Dhaka in mind. The ideas can just as easily be replicated in all the other cities and towns across Bangladesh.

Traffic Management: Lesson 5: No traffic management essay would be complete without some thought and a proposal for a solution that attempts to tackle the rickshaw issue.

The rickshaw issue has many facets to it, least of which is that it is a public service that is in great demand since the other public service options are limited at best and thoroughly unreliable.

Reigning in jaywalking in Dhaka

This article part of a series of traffic management articles that I have undertaken – particularly designed and thought out for the streets of my hometown Dhaka (and expandable to all the other cities across Bangladesh). Where it'll all end no one knows... [this is true for both the deplorable traffic condition in Dhaka and the number of articles in this series]

Traffic Management: Lesson 3... err 4: I have always maintained that there are few countries as free and democratic when it comes to personal freedoms than Bangladesh. Very few countries will allow people to cross the street at any point that is deemed convenient – this is regardless of the time of day or night, the width of the road being crossed, or the average speed in which on-coming traffic is moving.

The denizens of Dhaka cross the street anywhere and anytime they please; oftentimes under the cool shade of the pedestrian overpass.

Putting a toll on Dhaka traffic

Traffic Management: Lesson 2: Like many other countries, so too in Bangladesh money is king. Sadly, in more and more cases, as governance goes awry the end (i.e. making money) is being used to justify any means.

Money has become precious because it is erroneously considered the root to all happiness – and even if happiness remains elusive, at least the big car, over priced real estate and perceived neighbour envy helps a lot of people try and sleep at night (which most probably find is as elusive as their happiness they expected mollycoddled in the moolah).

But I digress.

Unclogging Dhaka city intersections

Whose right of way? More like 'right away'

Traffic Management: Lesson 1

Today marks the first in a series of traffic management articles that I will undertake – designed for the streets of my hometown Dhaka (and executable in all the other cities across the nation).

Just as anyone stuck in traffic has done time immemorial – I too have studied the traffic around me and been honed into an 'expert' in traffic management.

But before I go any further, I want to add that the difference between me and most self-trained (and self-professed) 'idle' traffic management experts, is that I have never designed traffic management situations in my mind as a fancy pass time or just a product of a burst of sudden insight; only to be forgotten by the next red light for another 'light bulb' moment.

Taking the metro for a ride

I never understood my native country – or at least perhaps intricate corruption has brought imbalance to priorities – because the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has to ask the government to make a decision on approving the metro rail that JICA is paying for (albeit in the form of a soft loan).

One needs not be in Dhaka city for too long to realise that one of the biggest problems the city dwellers face (apart from power cuts and a deteriorating law & order situation) is perennial traffic gridlock. These are the sorts of choked roads that rob hours of productivity and literally costs the country millions in lost wages and spent petrol fumes each day.

Just do it can be 'Oops!' moments too

Yesterday I posted my thoughts on procrastination and how (if anything) I set about changing my ways to stop procrastinating earlier – so that I had a little more time (although still painfully close a deadline that I had set for myself; adjusted from the original).

I find that the reason for my procrastination was the innate inability to 'just do it.' This problem is beyond my greater affinity to Adidas than to Nike; it has more to do with the fact that I am fairly relaxed as an individual and thus not usually surging with nervous energy and a fetish need to keep moving regardless of the insignificance of a quest.

It would seem that in my relaxed fashion, I contemplate (not over-analyse mind you; I act much before I begin to over analyse anything) and then gear myself up for the task at hand. Moreover I can judge fairly accurately the time frame required to get the job done.

While there are those who do over-analyse, there are also those who fastidiously follow the Nike motto and 'just do it.'

Procrastinating earlier

Imagine if today is as good as it'll ever get... would you continue to do things the same. What if today was the last day of your life?

As a dedicated procrastinator, even such revelations do little to jumpstart the system. The problem with me is that in my life everything got done by deadline. I should say that I probably procrastinated until the very, very last minute and then get right on it and accomplish the task (but usually only just).

Unfortunately the completed job was always as good as it'll ever be, which is to say that not only could the task NOT been improved upon if I had allowed myself more time but also that the quality of the finished product had always been above the mark.

And that is precisely why it had been so hard to change. Even more so because I could very well account my procrastination as a skillset and boast 'an ability to work under pressure.'

Making lemonade with life's lemons

There are moments when you fully understand what it means to be bigger than life – in my case it came from a moment when I witnessed (albeit through youtube) someone take the lemons that life has given him to not be sour faced about it but to actually make lemonade.

Emmanuel Kelly, a 17 year old Australian of Iraqi descent, probably faced his demons in front of a live studio audience while auditioning for 'the X-Factor' Australia.

Through the powerful words of John Lennon's 'Imagine' and his heartfelt rendition of that song he looks into the camera and tells his demons that he is bigger and stronger – and that he has not been (to borrow from Lennon) crippled inside.

What's in the numbers?

There has been news recently about a probe into possible corruption by the SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., a substantial Canadian engineering firm, in connection with a World Bank funded bridge project in Bangladesh.

While the probe is now ongoing and the Canadian firm supposedly cooperating with the authorities – the possibility for corruption in a “mega” infrastructure project in Bangladesh is very certain.

When I first read about the probe, I recalled that I had heard that the Chinese had inaugurated a 26 kilometre bridge over the bay in one of their cities for HALF of what Bangladesh was paying for its 6 kilometre bridge!

The very idea seemed preposterous and at the brink of the credible... I mean, a 26 kilometre bridge! This needed a little digging to verify facts.

Becoming the question

The Question?

"Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

Some people have the gift of being able answer a question by not really answering it but trying to. This lovely South Carolina Miss teen USA 2007 finalist is clearly the answer to the question itself!

Almost zen-like she became the answer...

30 Days have passed...

God (and Jobs) is in the details

God is in the details and the devil should pay heed. While Steve Jobs is NOT God, he has been as meticulous about the details and was a god to many who have been converted by his incredible vision.

I count myself as one of those converts. Which is why I chose to reproduce a blog post from the Cult of Mac site that had a short anecdote to the kind of man Apple had at its helm.

Click here to read the original post, or keep reading to see it here:

4 years in passing...

Losing a friend is never easy, especially at an age when most in our group of close knit buddies believed in our own immortality; a time when we believed that death comes knocking on people twice our age.

A close death is a sobering event that shakes to the very core and reminds that even when we are immortal, we are all only immortal for a limited time.

Our dear friend passed away four years ago today. To commemorate his memory I would like remember a poem about him I had written about on missing our happy ending [Click to read Whatever happened?] and an excerpt from my on-going memoirs and how his passing has affected me – his passage has left an empty space in all those who loved him and a hole inside those who truly cared and knew him well.

100 years ago

On the heels of my last post about amazing things happening in the last 100 to 150 years, I came across a list of how things were in the United States in 1910.

It can probably be safely said that the US in the early 20th century was where things were happening and that the country's economic and technological status could be a fairly good barometer of the state of things across the rest of the world (after all, while there were countries at par or maybe a step or two ahead in the game, most were not).

It's all about ME!

Now this might seem completely a bizarre outlook and the height of egotism, but sometimes I believe that the world is only at most 100/150 years old and has been developed for my sole entertainment and for the stage that is my life.

In other words my life is nothing short of my life-long movie, brilliantly choreographed by millions of extras who are only on stage and performing their roles when I am around.

How to peel that banana?

Who'd have known that “peeling the banana” ain't just no euphemism but an actual art that could be mastered?

It all started with my image search for yesterday's blog post (in which I used “peeling a banana” as potential euphemism for something more sinister. Click here to read the blog post) when I came across an image on google on peeling a banana.

I clicked on the image that I liked and found it embedded a post in another blog (entitled “Watch people jump”). The post was on how to peel a banana efficiently. The post even had a youtube clip (see below) that explained how to do it.

But before you click on the video below, ask yourself one question. Who would you associate most with a stereotypical love for bananas? If you answered apes or monkeys you be right on the button (however, if you didn't answer that way, what's wrong with you?!).

A made up true story of something that might have happened, maybe

This is a true story I could be made up (but it could very well be a made up story that could be true).

A neighbour couple's son walked in on them while they were 'cooking up a storm,' or 'peeling the banana,' or 'tying down the boat.' Now perhaps they were doing literally that (I wan't there so I don't know), i.e 'cooking up a storm' for a big dinner party, or 'peeling the banana' to put in their cornflakes, or 'tying down the boat' since a storm was moving in... but you, the reader, probably jumped to a conclusion and made a fairly broad assumption about what they might actually have been occupied with.

Social networking is anti-social

The London riots has led to the first ever conviction against an individual for setting up of a page on facebook.

In fact, two individuals were sentenced to 4-years imprisonment for setting up two respective facebook pages. Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, were handed the toughest sentences by the judges so far in the riot cases.

Blackshaw created an event on the site entitled 'Smash Down Northwich Town,' while Sutcliffe-Keenan used facebook to encourage a riot. Clearly not their most sanguine nor sane moment for two men who have been reported to have “both being of previous good character” by the media.

The judges probably hadn't read a recent report by a psychology professor of an American university on the affects of social networking on teens, otherwise they might have been a bit more lenient... of course they would also have to believe in passing the buck!

Working women come from hoers

I didn't just make it up, but a report in the Economist of London claims that the outlook of society towards working women depended greatly in ancient farming techniques – mainly whether they used the plough or the hoe in their farming.

Everything in time... eventually

In my life I have learnt not to fret about anything really... I have seen that all things that I wish for eventually does come to pass.

But there is a catch.

Honesty in the scam

Ban Ki Moon wrote to me recently.

(Let me just say that even if you know only ONE Ban Ki Moon, you know exactly who I am talking about...)

Anyway, as I was saying... Ban Ki Moon wrote to me in an email informing me that the assembly has had meetings for the past 3 months and it has been decided that United Nations has agreed to compensate “all the people that have been scammed (through dubious emails, no less) in any part of the world.”

A face you can trust

Lynchin' and be heard

There is much commonality at the core between the current riots in London and a incident of mob violence that occurred in Noakhali, Bangladesh.

True the extent of damages and the fatalities in the UK are much graver than that in Bangladesh – which left only one person dead. However, both incidents pay homage to the atrocities of police indifference and a long marginalised and under served populace.

The incident in Noakhali where a young man, labeled a 'robber' by the police, was dragged out of the police van by the police themselves to allow for mob justice (while they watched from the sidelines), seems little more than mindless violence and a increasingly recurring moment that shows that there is a very thin line between the humane and and the brutal.

Twist in crime and an honest cheat

Just when you think the criminal class have run out of new crimes to commit you hear of a story in which they out do themselves. Although it might not really be to their credit.

A south Florida kidnapping and robbery incident turned the tables on the victim and left him with a lot of explaining to do – mainly leaving him to explain to his wife (his children and his mother) why he had a girlfriend.

Incidentally he might also have explain to his girlfriend why he had a wife and kids (I'm sure he rather explain the mother though, not that he would be asked about that).

What is it with the burqa?

What is it with the burqa that has the power to bring European government's to their knees shaking?

This form of Islamic garb that covers the face, ostensibly for modesty's sake, is looked upon with utter disdain and with so much contempt that some European governments are now passing laws that ban its use.

The French were the first, the Belgians followed. Face-covering is public is also banned in s city in Spain. Soon Italy expects to follow suit with an Italian parliamentary commission approving a draft law banning women from wearing veils that cover their face in public.

Do these parliaments not have enough legislation or other legitimate concerns on their plates?

It is the curse of the white man that he has so much to do before he eventually sleeps... whether it is civilising Africa, teaching human rights in Asia, or liberating women from the shackles of Islam... the white man believes that it is his responsibility to rid the world of such vice, as much as he believes that Jesus was actually white.

It is unfathomable this audacity that allows someone to believe that a person of middle eastern descent would have physical features of an European rather than an Arab or an African... but that is another story and not the purpose of this rant. I'm just saying.

Anyway, while it is true that some women are probably wearing the burqa on coercion – for fear of reprisal from over zealous bigots in the form of domineering fathers, uncles or brothers (and often times, mothers, aunts and sisters) – there are also others who find wearing the veil comfortable and feel safe.

Saying that all women wearing a veil that covers her face in public is not doing so with free will or is forced to do so is like saying that all men are actually gay but most marry women because coming 'out' would be frowned upon. So what is really happening is that men who 'out' themselves as gay are actually free and exercising their free will, just as women clad in revealing outfits are the only women who are truly 'free.'

The Clinton/Merkel quagmire. Who's who?

Clearly a perception error because what is missing is that connection that some women could choose to cover themselves up and not wish show cleavage or thigh. Should it be assumed that women like Hilary Clinton or Angela Merkel are actually being oppressed and are 'forced' to wear those pant suits when they would rather some summer frocks?

I am not sure what the Quran prescribes exactly, but I am almost certain that it does not prescribe covering of the face so that only the eyes are visible. I know that Islam dictates covering of the arms, legs and the hair – more akin to a pant suit ensemble but maybe also with a head scarf.

Apparently the Italian law to ban the burqa was propelled by a Moroccan-born female member of Silvio Berlusconi's conservative Freedom People party. She proposed the law because she wanted to help Islamic women integrate more into Italian society. She says that there are more and more women in Italy seen wearing the burqa so “we need to help women get out of this segregation... to get out of this submission.”

What amazes me more than that this woman is Moroccan and should be more attuned to the Islamic way of life and ideals, is that Silvio Berlusconi is considered a conservative!

But I digress.

Personally I do not like the burqa on anyone – but do feel that it is a personal choice and definitely not to be coerced. In my opinion the only time a man would really object to a burqa is when it is on an Angela Jolie as opposed to an Angela Lansbury – but the motive of that objection would be more baser than any lofty ideals.

Personally I feel that the parliamentarians are so gung-ho to pass the legislation because, well, because of the burqa they can't differentiate between the Jolies from the Lansburys and are left second guessing. Trust me there is no lofty ideal at work here, just simple perversion or depravity and the power to do something about it.

Passing the burqa laws may actually liberate some women, but will also completely castigate others from public life. One should consider that just because there may be fewer burqas seen on the streets of France, Belgium, Spain or, soon, Italy, it could also mean that the women so 'liberated' are not parading around anymore; but are ironically shackled down.