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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (8636)	11/19/2006 11:44:05 AM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224718

That's true, although recently that type of report appears to be more frequent. There's one in today's paper re the high incidence of Afghani women immolating themselves in order to escape domestic abuse. Hopefully it means the world is paying more attention to the plight of Islamic females. Here's another news report with a similar theme: Dutch Cabinet Proposes Bill Banning the Burqa: >>Netherlands(Reuters)--Dutch Muslims have hit out at a proposed government ban of face veils, saying it was over the top, ill-conceived and infringed religious rights. On Friday the Dutch cabinet said it was proposing a bill banning clothing that covers the face in public, targeting in particular Muslim woman wearing the burqa or niqab. The burqa is an Islamic veil covering the entire face and body and a mesh screen to see through, while the niqab is a veil covering the face but leaving the eye area clear. The garments are worn by a few dozen women in the Netherlands. Rita Verdonk, minister of immigration and integration, said the bill proposed a ban on the basis that covering the face constituted a risk to public order and safety. The ban would be imposed in public and "semi-public" places such as schools, courts, ministries and trains, her spokesman Martin Bruinsma told AFP. "In this country, we want to be able to see each other. The ban is a question of security," daily De Telegraaf quoted on Saturday the minister as saying. But representatives of the country's Muslim population were unimpressed. "They are going to have to find a better argument than security. It is an infringement on the freedom of religion," said Ahmed Markouch, a Moroccan mosques representative. He predicted that the bill would go down badly with the country's sizeable Muslim population, "because it comes from Verdonk, not because they are in favour of the burqa." Green Party lawmaker Mustapha Laboui, who is of Moroccan origin, said that although he believed the wearing of the burqa in Dutch society was "not logical", he was sceptical as to the bill's legality. And Ayhan Tonca from the CMO, a group representing Muslims, said that such a law would be "useless". "The existing laws are sufficient for dealing with the problems. It's over the top, a law for a dozen people!," Tonca told AFP. As in many European countries, the integration of immigrants is a hot topic in the Netherlands, and the bill comes just days before legislative elections. "Iron Rita", as Verdonk has been dubbed, has made a name for herself with hard-hitting immigration policies and measures meant to foster integration into Dutch society. Since March, for example, would-be immigrants have to pass a test showing they have a basic understanding of the Dutch language and society, and the government has also tabled a bill that would force certain immigrants holding a Dutch passport to take courses on integration. For Dutch newspapers, news of the bill came as little surprise and coverage was light. For daily De Telegraaf, "The veil is coming down on the burqa." "In the past, the minister (Verdonk) has already made it known that she saw the burqa as a 'symbol of division and of separate worlds'," Volkskrant said. Newspapers said that the immigration ministry had been working for the past year to make the bill legally watertight. "There are some (legal) tensions, but it is possible to formulate it in such as way as to ensure it is not contentious," a spokesman for the immigration ministry told Volkskrant.<<

To: sandintoes who wrote (8636)	11/20/2006 11:54:07 AM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224718

Have you heard about this cruise from hell?:Virus sickens nearly 700 aboard cruise ship November 20, 2006 FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) -- A thorough scrubbing of the Carnival Liberty began Sunday as the ship docked after a virus sickened nearly 700 passengers on a trans-Atlantic cruise. Fourteen guests and five crew remained ill and in isolation when the ship arrived at Port Everglades, according to a statement released by Carnival Cruise Lines, a brand of Carnival Corp. Some passengers were escorted off the ship in wheelchairs by crew wearing blue gloves. Preliminary tests identified the source of the outbreak as the highly contagious norovirus, which had struck several guests just before they boarded the cruise November 3 in Rome, Carnival officials said. More than 530 guests and 140 crew reported to the ship's infirmary with similar symptoms during the 16-day voyage. Passengers who fell ill during the cruise said they received over-the-counter anti-diarrheal medication and pills or an injection to ward off nausea in the ship's infirmary, and had been quarantined in their cabins. "They brought us 7Up, bottled water, ice and a diet of rice, though you didn't feel like eating," said Jim Lankes, 48, of Phoenix. Lankes and his 45-year-old brother both got sick when the ship was docked in Barcelona, Spain. Crews scrubbed the ship's handrails and utensils, offered disinfecting hand gel and halted the self-serve buffets after the outbreak started. Even plastic menus were wiped clean, said Pedro Carreras, 51, of McDonough, Georgia. Most cruise activities and excursions continued as scheduled, passengers said, though the crew's illness disrupted some personal services. "Our cabin steward was struck, and we didn't have anybody to clean our cabin for five days," said Pamela Stupnik of Pueblo, Colorado. She said she and her husband spent two days vomiting in their cabin. A team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded the cruise when it docked in St. Maarten to oversee the cleaning operation and try to determine what caused the outbreak, Carnival said. Norovirus is a group of viruses that cause stomach flu symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps, according to the CDC. The illness usually lasts one to two days without any long-term health effects. It spreads through contaminated food or liquids, by touching contaminated surfaces or objects and then placing that hand in one's mouth, or through direct contact with someone who is infected and showing symptoms. The Liberty, which has room for 2,974 travelers, had been scheduled to set sail again Sunday afternoon on a six-day Caribbean voyage, but Miami-based Carnival delayed its next departure until Tuesday so crews could have extra time to disinfect the ship.