[Rhodes22-list] Nuts! - Political

[David Bradley]

Brad,

I really like living here in Seattle but I will agree, both the city
and the state are pretty poorly run.  The first election after we
moved here the major referendum on the ballot was a prohibition
against lap dancers.  The lap dancers won, though, so it isn't all
bad.

Dave


On 9/28/07, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is no way to start a birthday - reading nonsense like this.  I love
> Vancouver, as well as Seattle and Portland (home of Powells, best bookstore
> in America), but I couldn't live in any of the three - way too much
> silliness.  Here's the latest from Vancouver.  Brad
>
> -------------------------------
>
> Thursday, September 27, 2007
>
> Blowing smoke   [Mark Steyn <ma%69%6cb%6f%78@%73te%79%6eon%6cine.c%6f%6d>]
>
> Okay, Muslim foot-baths in Kansas City airport, gender-segregated swimming
> sessions at French municipal pools, banning pork from Aussie hospital menus,
> no eating donuts for Belgian cops during Ramadan, no seeing-eye dogs or
> alcohol in Minneapolis taxi cabs, fine, fine, fine. Must be sensitive and
> all that.
>
> But this<http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e8396556-5079-4cb5-bfe6-648e95d565d3>is
> an amazing victory. In Vancouver, infidels can't smoke but Muslims
> can:
>
> Vancouver's hookah-parlour owners are celebrating after winning an exemption
> Thursday from a proposed new bylaw that will ban smoking on most sidewalks
> in commercial districts, in bus shelters and even in taxis passing through
> Vancouver.
>
> In giving the bylaw unanimous approval-in-principle, Vancouver city council
> members bowed to arguments that hookah lounges provide an important cultural
> space for the city's Muslims and granted them a temporary exemption...
>
> [Emad Yacoub] said hookah lounges are essential for immigrants from
> hookah-smoking cultures, because it helps them deal with the depression
> common for newcomers and gives them places like they have at home.
>
> Where do the rest of us go to deal with depression? As Jay Currie asks, "What
> about my culture? <http://jaycurrie.info-syn.com/and-what-about-my-culture/>
> "
>
> By creating a special exemption for Muslims - who do seem to be the only
> immigrant group actively demanding these sorts of "cultural accommodations"
> we are basically declaring our Muslim citizens worthy of special treatment
> and, at the same time, unworthy of the health concerns which are purported
> to be the basis of general smoking bans.
>
> The state, in other words, is prepared to treat Muslims as free-born adults
> who can weigh the "cultural value" (ie, the pleasures) of smoking against
> the health risks. But not the rest of us.
>
> 09/27 07:04 AM<http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDFiZTdlYTg4ZTZkNzcwMDljNGQ1ZDdjYzRmNjFhYzE=>
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-- 
David Bradley
+1.206.225.7793
dwbrad at gmail.com