Well I havent been a very diligent blogger have I really? I just had to post these though:-
A true story out of San Francisco: A man, wanting to rob a
downtown Bank of America, walked into the branch and wrote "this iz a
stikkup.
Put all your muny in this bag." While standing in line, waiting
to give his note to the teller, he began to worry that someone had
seen him write the note and might call the police before he reached
the teller's window. So he left the Bank of America and crossed the
street to Wells Fargo. After waiting a few minutes in line, he
handed his note to the Wells Fargo teller. She read it and, surmising
from his spelling errors that he wasn't the brightest light in the
harbor, told him that she could not accept his stickup note because it
was written on a Bank of America deposit slip and that he would
either have to fill out a Wells Fargo deposit slip or go back to Bank
of America. Looking somewhat defeated, the man said, "OK" and left.
He was arrested a few minutes later, as he was waiting in line back
at Bank of America.
A guy walked into a little corner store with a shotgun and
demanded all of the cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the
cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of Scotch that he wanted
behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag
as well, but the cashier refused and said, "Because I don't believe
you are over 21." The robber said he was, but the clerk still
refused to give it to him because he didn't believe him. At this
point, the
robber took his driver's license out of his wallet and gave it
to the clerk. The clerk looked it over and agreed that the man was in
fact over 21 and he put the Scotch in the bag. The robber then ran
from the store with his loot. The cashier promptly called the police
and gave the name and address of the robber that he got off the
license.
..
Only in America huh? Well quick updates are
Anne has moved out of her new room because she kept seeing ghosts. After she moved the owner informed her that the previous tenant had been killed there!!!! Spooky huh?
We haven't stopped going out and living the high life even though I can't afford to. The diamond biz thing looks like it might be starting to go somewhere at last. The Dukester is in town tomorrow night.
Oh ya and on my anti Islam thing... how about this for a story: I personally think that this whole issue of Islam has to be addressed. Did you know that in Saudi importation of a Xmas tree is illegal. So its like this huh... in a muslim country Christians and other faiths have no rights but on our countries which they are trying to destroy we give them carte blanche... lets sort the bastards out a declare religeon for what it is .....just a fairy story.....
Court TV) -- It could be the dim lighting, the poor camera work or the drab backgrounds at most motor vehicle departments, but driver's license photos are seldom considered flattering. To a veil-wearing Florida woman, they're unconstitutional.
Sultaana Freeman, an American-born Muslim woman, lost her license after she refused to remove her veil, or hijab, for a photo. Now she is suing the Florida State Department of Highway Safety for violating a Florida statute that says the government "shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion."
Freeman's civil suit, which is expected to go to court May 27, draws on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
But Florida authorities say the world changed after September 11. After learning that 13 of the 19 hijackers allegedly obtained licenses in Florida, authorities cracked down on the system, hoping to ensure that the DMV photos could remain one of the primary tools used by law enforcement officials for identification.
The showdown, in which Freeman is asking a court to reinstate her license, pits her interpretation of Islam, a 1,400-year-old religion, against Florida authorities struggling to keep law enforcement from falling behind.
What makes a veil?
The tradition of the hijab stems from a trio of verses in the Al-Ahzab section of the Quran, one of which reads: "Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad). That will be better, so that they may be recognised and not annoyed."
Even within the Islamic religion, the form and function of the veil is widely disputed. Some Muslims take a loose interpretation of the verse, believing it does not mandate Muslim women to wear the veil. Others take a strict interpretation. But even then, some women cover only their hair, some cover only part of their face, and some — like Freeman — cover all but their eyes.
"Full hijabs are very rare," said Alan Godlas, an associate professor of religion specializing in Islamic studies at the University of Georgia. But whether full, half or hair only, the hijab is often an integral part of a Muslim woman's identity.
"For many Muslim women, it's one of the key features of their identity as a Muslim," said Godlas. "Not only would removing it be a violation in their mind of the Quran, it's a violation of an element that's essential to who they are ... it is the most important single religious symbol to many Muslim women."
The interpretation of this verse could make its way into Freeman's trial.
Freeman claims her "sincere religious belief that her religion requires her to wear her veil in front of strangers and unrelated males" as the basis for her March 2002 complaint.
But Florida authorities have geared up to dispute her strict interpretation of the veil, and plan to call an expert witness, Khaled Abou El Fadl, an Islamic law professor at the University of Southern California, to argue that full-face veiling is an Arabic cultural custom, rather than a practice mandated by Islamic law.
Unless quashed by Judge Janet Thorpe, the showdown over Islamic law could put the court system, an ardently secular unit, in the difficult position of deciding a matter of religious interpretation.
"I'm sure you can get religious scholars to pretty much disagree on anything," said Howard Marks, Freeman's Florida-based lawyer, who is working on her case pro-bono. It is not the role of a court to be the arbiter of religious scripture."
The plaintiff's case
To rebut the state's case, Freeman is expected to call a number of religious experts to testify about the significance of the veil in the Muslim religion.
Marks, her attorney, told Courttv.com he will also attack the state's timing.
"We do not believe the events of 9/11 justify the government's intrusion to restrict a person's ability to live by their religious principles and religious beliefs," said Marks.
Before September 11, Freeman had a Florida driver's license with a photo of her in traditional garb. She also had one in Illinois, where she lived before.
Marks is also seeking to show that his client has been singled out, when, he claims, hundreds of thousands of Florida residents are issued drivers licenses without photographs each year. "They issue them for a myriad of reasons," said the lawyer. "If they have such a compelling state interest that everyone must have a license with their photograph on it, then why do they have all of these exemptions on it?"
The lawyer says he has precedent on his side, citing three cases brought by Christian sects that believed the second commandment prohibits photographs. And 14 states, not including Florida, have built in exemptions to deal with such religious objections to photographs.
The state's case
Jason Vail, the Florida assistant attorney general handling the case, says a victory for Freeman could damage one of the most important law enforcement mechanisms in the country, the official license photograph.
"The case has major implications for the integrity of driver's licenses around the country," he said. "If you allow exemptions from it for reasons like this, people who have a religious objection to taking photographs at all could ask for them too."
Terrorists, said Vail, could abuse such exemptions.
In addition to the expert on Islamic law, Vail also plans to call representatives from the Department of Motor Vehicles to explain the ways in which Muslim women have been accommodated.
"The practice has been to ask the men to leave the room. They lift the veil, we take the picture, they get the license, and they put it in their pocketbook and nobody sees it again," Vail said. "We don't care. We just have to have the picture."
But to Marks, Freeman's lawyer, the courtesy is still not a compromise: It isn't the process, but the photograph itself that his client objects to. "She believes that would violate a tenet of her religion," he said.
This pic was from the Paul Okenfold night at Narcissus a few weeks ago.... just thinking about tonight's party got me looking through the snaps.... whah it was good!
