|
Culture Wars |
Malaysian Minister Rejects Child Marriage Reform
Source: AsiaOne.com
Malaysia's religion minister on Tuesday defended Islamic laws that allow girls
under 16 to marry, amid a controversy over two youngsters who were married off
to middle-aged men. The issue has flared in Malaysia after reports that two
girls aged 10 and 11 were wed in the conservative northern state of Kelantan
last month. They have now been removed from their husbands. Rights groups have
called for the reform of Islamic laws that allow marriage under the age of 16 if
religious officials give their consent. Sharia law runs in parallel with civil
law in multi-ethnic Malaysia. "There is no need to amend the law," Jamil Khir
Baharom, a cabinet minister in charge of religious affairs, told reporters. "The
law already exists... marrying someone aged 16 and below requires the consent of
the court. The court does not simply grant the consent," he said. "Maturity is a
subjective question. It depends on the development of the person. Maturity is
not based on age solely." Pressure group Sisters in Islam has called for an end
to child marriages, saying the practice was "unacceptable" but continued in
Malaysia because of a "belief that Muslim girls can be married off once they
reach puberty...The minimum age of marriage for Muslim girls must be raised to
18 to be in compliance with the Child Act which defines children as those below
the age of 18," it said in a statement. Other citizens in the multicultural
country -- where the population is dominated by Muslim Malays -- are not
permitted to marry before the age of 18.
Study: Green Halo Worn by Selfish, Self-Centered
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
When Al Gore was caught running up huge energy bills at home while lecturing us
all on the need to save electricity, it turns out that he was only reverting to
"green" type. According to a study, when people feel they have been virtuous by
saving the planet through their purchases of, say, organic baby food, it leads
to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behavior," otherwise
known as "moral balancing" or "compensatory ethics." Do Green Products Make
Us Better People? is published in the latest edition of the journal
Psychological Science. Its authors, Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and
Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the "halo of green
consumerism" are less likely to be kind to others and more likely to cheat and
steal. The pair found that those in their study who bought green products
appeared less willing to share with others a set amount of money than those who
bought conventional products. When the green consumers were given the chance to
boost their money by cheating on a computer game and then given the opportunity
to lie about it - in other words, steal - they did, while the conventional
consumers did not. Later, in an honor system in which participants were asked to
take money from an envelope to pay themselves their spoils, the green consumers
were six times more likely to steal than others. Mazar and Zhong said their
study showed that "green products do not necessarily make for better people."
The study involved three separate experiments with 305 undergraduate students at
the University of Toronto.
Muslim Gangs Imposing Sharia Law in British Prisons
Source: The London Telegraph
Radical Muslim gangs are imposing a form of Sharia law inside some of Britain's
prisons, an investigation has found. Non-Muslim inmates at the high-security
Long Lartin jail have been forced by the gangs to stop playing "Western" music
and take down pictures of women from their cells, according to one former prison
officer there. Prisoners at the jail, although allowed to cook their own food,
are not allowed to prepare pork for fear of offending the Muslim inmates, the
officer said. The officer, speaking to Radio Five Live's Donal Macintyre show,
told how younger prisoners were targeted for forced conversion to Islam by the
gangs. "They went along because they were intimidated. They genuinely weren't of
the Muslim faith," she said...One Catholic prisoner who refused to convert was
seriously assaulted after being repeatedly threatened by the gang, the officer
said. "He said every so often they would come to his cell and hold the Koran up
through the small window in the cell door and start running their fingers along
their throats," she said. The officer's testimony is consistent with findings by
the official prison watchdog, the chief inspector of prisons. In a report last
year, the inspector, Anne Owers, quoted a number of prisoners at Long Lartin
about the increasing dominance of Muslim gangs in the jail...Ms. Owers says
there is a similar gang culture in at least three other high-security prisons,
Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, Belmarsh in south-east London and Full Sutton in
North Yorkshire. Some of the gang leaders are terrorist prisoners but most are
in for ordinary offences.
Canadian Child Bride Loophole Can't Be Closed
Source: The Toronto Sun
Federal immigration officials say there’s little they can do to stop “child
brides” from being sponsored into Canada by much older husbands who wed them in
arranged marriages abroad. Top immigration officials in Canada and Pakistan say
all they can do is reject the sponsorships of husbands trying to bring their
child-brides to Canada. The men have to reapply when the bride turns 16. The
marriages are permitted under Sharia Law. Muslim men, who are Canadian citizens
or permanent residents, return to their homeland to wed a “child bride” in an
arranged marriage in which a dowry is given to the girl’s parents. Officials
said some of the brides can be 14 years old or younger and many are forced to
marry. The practice occurs in a host of countries including Afghanistan, Iran,
Pakistan and Lebanon...Abdul Hameed, of the Canadian embassy in Islamabad, said
child marriages are not valid in Canada. “A child marriage is punishable but it
does not render the marriage invalid,” Hameed said. “We are refusing such
application on grounds the marriage will not be valid as per Canadian laws.”
William Hawke, of immigration’s Permanent Resident Unit, said the young brides
won’t be allowed in Canada. “Sponsorship applications submitted for a spouse
under 16 will be refused,” Hawke said. “Once an underage spouse turns 16 they
are a member of the family class” and can be sponsored. He said the application
is rejected if a spouse turns 16 during processing. Kurland said there’s little
that can be done to stop Canadians from marrying child brides. “A 15-year-old
bride doesn’t void a marriage,” Kurland said on Thursday. “The application is
turned down and the person can reapply when his bride turns 16.” He said the
practice has been going on for years and “is a concrete loophole that can’t be
fixed.”
State Department to Prepare 'Human Rights' Report on US
Source: CNS New
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that the State Department is
soliciting comments from citizens, advocacy groups and other non-governmental
organizations on the human rights record of the United States. “Human rights are
universal, but their experience is local. This is why we are committed to
holding everyone to the same standard, including ourselves,” Clinton told a
press briefing at the State Department, where she unveiled the “2009 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices.” Clinton said the US is now gathering facts
on its own record because – as a member of the UN Human Rights Council – it is
participating in the UNHRC’s “universal periodic review” process. The Obama
administration’s decision to join the Human Rights Council was controversial.
The Geneva-based, 47-member HRC faces numerous criticisms, chief among them the
presence of countries with poor rights records. Iran is currently running for a
seat on the council. “In the fall, we will present a report (to the UNHRC) based
on the input of citizens and NGOs, gathered online and in face-to-face meetings
across the country attended by senior government officials,” Clinton said on
Thursday. “Assessing opportunities for progress and soliciting citizen
engagement is one way that we demonstrate our commitment in word and deed to the
basic principles that guide us toward a more perfect union and a more peaceful
world,” she added. |
|
|
|
A new study indicates that those who wear their "Green" attitudes on their
sleeves are more likely to be dishonest, narcissistic and self-serving...imagine
that. |
|
|
|
Research |
Immigration, Political Realignment
& the Demise of GOP
by James G. Gimpel, Center for Immigration
Studies
How has the growth of the immigrant population changed the political partisan
leanings of the places where immigrants have settled? The answer to this
question is of considerable interest to academic specialists, journalists,
interest groups, and political parties engaged in the immigration policy debate.
If the impact of mass immigration is politically neutral, there is no reason to
be concerned that constituencies will change appreciably by the settlement and
naturalization of new arrivals. In that case, immigration might have economic
and cultural impacts that should be anticipated, but no one need be concerned
about political shifts.
On the other hand, if immigration does change the politics of locales,
districts, and even entire states, then what might those changes entail?
Certainly one important implication will be a resultant public shift toward
favoring governmental activism — a belief that government should do more, rather
than less. Latino voters, for instance, are presently among the demographic
groups that are most strongly behind an activist government. This is undoubtedly
because they have, on balance, lower incomes, and concentrate in areas
monopolized by Democratic Party politics into which they are easily socialized.
Observers have witnessed the concurrent surge in California’s immigrant
population, fueled mostly by the relocation of less-educated Mexicans, along
with its rising Democratic Party majority, especially in presidential elections.
Recent studies of Latino party identification have shown that those of Mexican
origin, and occupying the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, are
especially likely to identify with the Democratic Party. Remarkably, Latinos in
California appear to vote overwhelming Democratic even when Republican Latino
candidates are on the ballot opposing Anglo Democrats.
It is not surprising, then, that the nation’s sustained flow of lower-skilled
immigrants, largely from Latin America, has given rise to predictions of an
emerging Democratic Party majority by a variety of studious onlookers.
Read more... |
Social Bookmarking
Click the title to read more ► |
|
NMJ
Analysis |
▪America: Break the Silence on Islam
▪Oil: The Other Renewable Energy Source
▪States Rush to Legalize Betting, Expand Gambling
▪The Approaching Crown Fire
▪Obama: Serving Ambitions, Not Citizens
▪We Simply Can’t Afford Another Entitlement...
▪Counting the Votes Before They Are In
▪More analysis |
|
More
Headlines |
▪Clerics: Airport Scans Contrary to Islam
▪Bill Lets Gov't Collect Private Payroll Data
▪Pakistan's Acid-Attack Victims Fight Back
▪Woman Sentenced to 300 Lashes in Saudi Arabia
▪Nigeria: More Than 200 Dead in Religious Violence
▪Female Muslim Medics 'Disobey Hygiene Rules'
▪VA Atty Gen to Colleges: End Gay Protections
▪UK Forces Teachers to Maintain 'Hate Registers'
▪Wilders to Show Anti-Islamist Film in House of Lords
▪Indonesian Students Protest Barack Obama's Visit
▪Dutch Elections Present Opportunity for Wilders
▪Fatwa: Suicide Bombers 'UnIslamic', Going to Hell
▪Farrakhan: Obama Faces ‘White Right’ Trouble
▪Anti-Semite Teaching in Spanish Schools
▪Christian Sentenced to Life in PK for Blasphemy
▪Radio Host Fired for Refusing to Sugarcoat Islam
▪Curfew in Liberia After Muslim-Christian Clashes
▪Haitian Voodoo Leader Vows 'War' After Attack
▪Controversy Over Minarets Overlooking Sandhurst |
|
