Saudi Arabia: The Most Repressive Place in the World?

It sure looks like it. Not only can't you drive a car there if you're a chick, you can't even express your support for a chick's right to drive:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi officials say the country’s codes against political dissent on the Internet will be applied to anyone offering online support for a planned protest by women challenging the male-only driving rules in the kingdom. 

The warning comes ahead of a campaign by Saudi women to get behind the wheel on Saturday in defiance of Saudi traditions. The Internet has been a key tool in organizing the protest and reaching out to media. 

Friday’s edition of the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat quotes Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Turki Al-Faisal as saying cyber-laws could apply to anyone supporting the women driving campaign. Conviction can bring up to five-year prison sentences.

Crazy. However, we here in Canada should not be smug about our own dedication to "human rights"--not when we import this sort of repression and disguise it with the smiley face of "multiculturalism":

There is now extensive literature on immigrant women and their attitudes relating to health care. The most common concern South Asian women identify is the insistence of husbands (and/or his family members) that they accompany them into the examining room. This is a practice tolerated by many doctors from the South Asian community, even when language is not a barrier. This inhibits women from speaking freely about their symptoms or feelings.

To recap: In Saudi Arabia, women can't drive. In Canada, some South Asian women can't see their doctors unless their husband comes along.

So much for Canadian freedom.

Scary Timeframe

Report: Iran may be a month away from a bomb

Update: US could accept Israeli strike on Iran soon, says former IDF intel chief

Optimist.

Cockamamie Obamacare

Today's "Affordable Care" song:

Obama, he'll make ya,
Ooo, you gotta take it.
You will rue it,
Big con job,
Didn't need the drama.
A big fight, so sit tight, can't get on the website.
Just fake it...

It's so cockamamie.
That plan called Obamacare.
It's way insane, I swear,
And it's beyond repair.

Remember Pelosi?
Said we'd see it once it passed.
Now we are so aghast
At what was passed so fast,
Bombastic O-bamacare.

Obama, he'll make ya, ooo, you gotta take it.
You will rue it, big con job, didn't need the drama.
A big fight, so sit tight, can't get on the website.
It's Obamacare.
They said they shoved it through all fair and square,
Now buyers must beware,
Stuck with their Obamacare.

Catastrophe as far as you can see...

Two British Chicks Make a Case for Their Islamic Head Covering of Choice

One makes the case for wearing the niqab. The other says that she would wear one, were it an Islamic requirement, but since she is required only to cover her head she wears a hijab.

And that, mes amis, is what passes for diversity in today's U.K.

Time to Add Another Letter to that LGBTetc. Rigmarole?

Singer Morrissey claims to be "humasexual." That is, he likes having sex with homo sapiens. (Scroll down to the aptly titled "Hey, pal! Nobody cares".)

Suspicion Re Obama's Smarts/Backbone Breeds Strange Bedfellows

Neither the Wahhabis nor the Israelis are swallowing John Kerry's honeyed assurances that the U.S. won't allow itself to be bamboozled by Iran's crafty Ayatollah.

Update: Israel Can't Take Kerry at His Word on Iran

Ball of Confusion

The latest item for sale at the "human rights" mausoleum gift shop is a good example of the mausoleum's skewed agenda:

Play Fair! Mini Soccer Ball New

$ 16.95

Tens of millions of sports balls are produced in South Asia every year and while labour conditions have improved greatly, there are still known cases of poor working conditions, unfair wages, and even child labour. It is not uncommon to find children going to work to supplement their family income, instead of going to school to get an education. Soccer or “football” as it is known in most countries, is the world’s most popular sport. This fair trade mini soccer ball is a great size for young children or for any players wanting to improve their juggling skills. 

Hand-stitched soccer balls are primarily sewn inside out until the last panel, when the ball is turned right-side-in and the final stitches are applied. No children work to assemble Fairtrade certified sports balls, and workers are ensured a minimum wage and fair employment conditions.

A juggling-sized ball that costs almost 17 bucks? On the one hand, yes, no Third World moppets were involved in its manufacture. On the other hand, who in their right mind is going to shell out that much for an itsy-bitsy orb? (Similarly, who in their right mind thinks that a hugely expensive "human rights" edifice, one designed to infuse guilt in adults and indoctrinate kiddies in the "social justice"/"change" bunkum, is a good idea?)

Bruce Bawer on Barbara Kay, "Canada's Coolest Columnist"

As a big Barbara fan myself, I second that emotion.

He's the Wizard of Ozymandias. Look Upon His Works, Americans, And Despair!

Today's "Affordable Care" song:

Ding dong the glitches live!
Which glitches?
Wicked glitches.
Ding dong the wicked glitches live.
Tough luck, you're stuck with it.
It's now the law,
You can't duck it.
Tough luck, those wicked glitches live!
It's going to be tweaked until
Until, until, until the thrill revives
And it fulfills Obama's promise.
Ding dong, it's causing stress.
Accessible? No, what a mess.
Let's confess the wicked glitches live!

Today In Wishful Thinking Veering Into the Delusional...

UN nuclear inspectors hope to end gridlock with Iran

Is That You, Karl?

In a letter published in the National Post, Salomon Benzimra detects a shadowy presence looming in the background as two Jews make their hyperventilated pitch to nab a "genocide" designation for Canada's First Nations:

Re: ‘The Brutal Truth Of History’ On First Nations’ Side, letters, Oct. 22; A Rude Dismissal of Canada’s Generosity, Rex Murphy, Oct. 19. 

Rex Murphy’s columns are always as clear as spring water in both substance and style. His latest column leaves no doubt as to the difference in today’s attitude toward the First Nations and that prevailing over a century ago. Yet, letter-writers Michael Dan, Bernie Farber and David Watts chose to remain frozen in the distant past, ignore the positive measures adopted by Canadian governments in recent decades, and unjustly portray Mr. Murphy’s factual observations as cynical, patronizing or an insult to history. 

Mr. Murphy clearly lays out the underlying “narrative” of the First Nations, which took hold in Caledonia and fuels the present violence. This narrative, anchored in the same Marxist discourse that launched the “Palestinian cause” in the 1970s, rests on the notions of “foreign settlers,” colonialism, racism and oppression.
Salomon Benzimra, Toronto.