It is the government that is causing and fueling the tension. They have to be at each other's throats while the laughing cow makes his son the president of the country. A very simple 'divide and conquer' sort of policy, and given the religious hysteria sweeping Egypt since expatriates from the gulf began to go home in the 80s, it is a great environment.

LOL, love his name, Kwame Nkrumah.

Che, we all have our shackles. I've made my views on religious wear known several times but for the life of me, I don't understand how anyone can coerce a woman who wears a burqa or a niqab of her own free will to take it off? And to use scare tactics, xenophobia, and sociopolitical agendas as is in France to do it. It is a dangerous proposition. You ban women's wear and the next people in power will have free reign on whose wear they will ban. Nonetheless, I agreed with Dr. Tantawi on his advice to the young girl.

I truly don't understand why anyone would oppose a woman's choice to wear the burqa or a niqab. Freedom of choice cannot exist only when people agree with us. If you respect a person enough, you will respect their choice of wear. No paternalistic pandering or sociopolitical score-pointing. Of course, coercion is unacceptable but that goes across all manners of dress.

A bearded bride in Dubai? This story doesn't add up. I haven't met a people who are as vigilant and creative in hair removal as Arabs. She and her family would have found a million and one places to remove the hair.

^ Nice try at an underhanded, low comment.

Didn't Tantawi retract his statements after a particularly vicious round of editorial lynching? I think he backed away and the universities' council won its higher court bid to allow students the niqab on campus.

Maaddeey, those are heartless and disgusting words. Saqajjaannimo? I would wish a fate similar to theirs onto you but I won't. Only that you run into similar compassion and understanding in your lowest moment.

Johnny, my organs are signed off for donation too if the Western diet doesn't turn them into beef jerky first

^ Why not?! Legion and Narnia are probably the only ones I would like to see. The Sorcerer's Apprentice sounds interesting and wild horses will not make me give a penny of my money to J.K Rowlings :rolleyes:

^ A man whose hand is in water is not like a man whose hand is in the flames. Ibtisam, that's true. The best organizations are probably those who can get them out of there and to a European/Western destination. Yemen is poorer than poor and will remain so till yom al qiyama.

^ How clinical and social scientist of you, Ibtisam! LOL What a nightmare of life these women are living. The best thing to do to help is donate money to civil organizations that offer support. Hunger is a monster.

^ Um, Ngonge, that's not creepy at all I refuse to be a kill trophy :mad:

Cara, I read about them freezing only your head too. I've always wished I was born a few millenia from now but I think I will pass on the decapitation. I wouldn't want a carbon based body again, anyway. Ngonge, if you knew how long the women in my family live, you wouldn't ask? If I go sooner, it is all yours.

Ilahay ha unaxariisto. Samir iyo Imaan.

Cicero, I think I will pass with the endocannabilism. All of a sudden, being devoured by a hyena seems so much more attractive, though I was amenable to it all along Dajiye, care to elaborate?

Khayr, I quite like everyone's take on the process. Ngonge believes in the cycle of life with other creatures benefiting potentially. Cara is open to a space odyssey and a possible rebirth with 32nd century technology (my hope). I wouldn't mind that one bit. Che doesn't desire destruction but disappearing into thin air has its advantages. Castro is pragmatic, especially with the loan shark rates of today's grave diggers. Ailamos brings forth another group of people who leave memories but not bodies. All viable post-breath options, attractive in their own rights. Where did you say they have running water and food all year round? Something tells me I won't have a use for either.

ailamos, interesting Tibetan ritual! I can dig feeding another creature. This business of burial and pilgrimage to the site of the bones seems a little off to me. Though I am cool with a straight drop into a hole and flowers blooming from the fertilizer.

Che, a cataclysmic end seems almost too good to be true. Cara, the cats would not get much from my carcass but being shot into space is intensely appealing. A little like Ripley and her monster A&T, oh, are you still sulking, snookumspoo? Castro, voice of reason. Those extortionate burial prices are best suited for a trust fund. And for what, to take up precious earthly space? Ngonge, the plants can only benefit if I bypass the pine bed. To be honest, I don't want my memory to live forever (or even half an hour). It just doesn't mean a thing for the dead, in my opinion. LOL @ Milligan

I had the misfortune of reading about an ex-classmate's death a few days ago. Her car crashed less than a couple of miles from her home but when it's time, it's time. I didn't know her in person but her family's dedication mentioned a cremation and a scattering over mountains. If I were one of their own, I would decline to be the actual person doing the scattering since gusty winds can do funny things and blow dead girl remains into my hair. Anyway, I feel for her family's sorrow and her untimely passing. And it has me pondering how I would want my body interred following death? I am a firm believer in the cycle of life, food chains, and dusty beginnings. I would have asked to be thrown to a bunch of hyenas so they would at least have a good dinner but given my family's longevity, I think I will be too bony and chewy for the poor things. I am not too fond of burial. As I begin to decompose, I'll smell like my younger brother's feet. I am too much of a fcuking lady to smell. Do I want anybody there at the disposal of my bones? Maybe one or two people to say that I was nice and occasionally kind. Anybody who hates me can come along where I'm headed for all I care. The history of humanity is rife with struggles with the notion of death. From glorious pyramids to the morbid work of today's morticians, we just don't want to go. But if I do, just don't put me into the ground, or in a vase, a fridge, the bottom of a lake, cemented in a downtown building, burnt to a crisp in a Toyota Prius, sitting in formaldehyde as idjit would-be doctors practice cutting, thrown into a mass grave with people I would kill if alive,.............. Does it really matter, though, once the fat lady has sung?

^ Stoic, dude, step aside. I got the goods for El Che about insomnia. Sign out the biggest book that you can from the library, something like The Divine Comedy. Start reading in bed. You won't even know when you zonked out. Worked like a charm for me. Of course, I had a black eye in the morning from where the book landed as I fell into unconsciousness. Even the pitiful stares of people at the grocery store and whispers of Ike & Tina didn't faze me. If it takes being mistaken for a battered wife to get a good night sleep, it is worth it. What question would I ask a doctor on a talk show : why are you and your peers holding the healthcare system hostage with your incompetence and arrogance? Acting like a bunch of mafia bosses for the pharmaceutical companies :mad:

^ Not yet but I heard some good things about it.

^ The Hurt Locker is a crock of shidh. Looking forward to Un Prophete, though.

The horrors of what happened to these children and others will emerge in the coming months. I am wondering how many more were abducted before this church batch.

^ You're embarrassing yourself but something tells me it is a default state.