The French Disconnection:-3

Now some of you will take issue with me regarding defending Burqa. It is not defending the clothing; it is defending the principles on which the French Republic is based. Some will say that churches and western women clothing is not allowed in Islamic countries and we should try to do the same. But here is the critical point to ponder: Islamic countries have never tried to say that they believe in human rights or human freedom, they try to ban western influences and churches defending their action as necessary for their public. But the French or for that matter any western country has never publicly stated that we will ban this just because it is not based on human rights. Clothing should never have been an issue and should not be. Look at the United States where we were attacked on 9/11. After that time, there were isolated attacks on Muslims but at no time there was any attempt to legislate a ban on clothing just because the wives, mothers, sisters or daughters of the 9/11 hijackers were the burqa in their home countries.

Wearing clothes is a personal matter and is part of the western tradition of human rights and individual freedom (if this is what these western countries wants us believe).

If they start to ban this kind of clothing and enshrine it in their laws, what next for the French, any suggestions. Have the French solved all their economic problems and have they all the time in the world to pursue a law with useless value to a lot of French people ( I hope). At least in America we don’t have the time to think about these draconian laws even with 535 members of Congress and countless other local and state politicians.To the French I say lets get down to some real world problems if they will find the time.

The French Disconnection:-2

So now let’s see what this Frenchness is. If I speak French, born in France and contribute to its economy (by paying taxes) play by its rules and generally be a good person, does it not count of me being French or do I have to dress a certain way, follow the majority views (even if they are wrong) will that qualify me as a French Citizen. I am really confused. I don’t know out of what logic they have decided to ban this Burqa.

If you need faces for identification purposes, I am all for it, you need to know that the person in the ID is the same standing in front of you. But to ban it just because someone feels the divine task of riding these females of the slavery of their men, then I am against it. Why is France feeling threatened by such a miniscule minority amongst their midst.

The French is a nuclear power and a veto member of the United Nations Security council.Why does it feel that some women wearing a burqa threaten the Frenchness of the state? If they are really offended by it then instead of banning it officially, they should have ignored it and let the public deal with it in their own manner. Once the public shuns it then there will be no Burqa. Forcing somebody to wear something looking and acting like French is utterly ridiculous.

I believe the main reason is that they are really afraid about the growing rise of Islam and they are at a loss how to deal with it. They cannot expel all the Muslims so this is how they are dealing with it. They have utterly failed to integrate their Muslims minorities into the mainstream French life and now they want to rectify it by passing this ridiculous law.

The French Disconnection:

The French has done it again. First they banned the head scarves that women wear in all elementary and secondary schools and not this. They have partially ban the burqa (the long all encompassing dress where you don’t see any part of the body). They it is not French tradition to have it. What is a French tradition, they profess to be secular government but they celebrate all Christian holidays. They will also refuse to give permanent resident or citizenship to the burqa women.

You know they believe that it restricts women’s movement. Well do they want women to go without clothes then? If it is their choice then let them wear whatever they want. It is a wrong assumption that all these burqas are being worn under the pressure of their men. Some women do want to wear it, but they are a very tiny minority. Muslims in France and in Europe generally are marginalized anyway and this ban would not help their cause. Although it can be generally assumed that these women can be a threat to the so called French Identity but even if the Burqas are banned because it is part of fundamentalist and extremist Islamic ideologies, how can we be sure that banning it would make an extremist person moderate.

There is no face of terror, burqa or no burqa, we have seen that the terrorists are pretty savvy in adopting to changing threats to their extremist agenda. Will this ban make the burqa clad woman more French or they (or their men folk) view it as a threat to their religion, only time will tell.

State of the Union Address-2

So last night we had the first State of the Union address by the new President. Thankfully he realized that we should be talking more about the economy than the War on Terror and other stuff. He kept on emphasizing again about the passage of the health care reform bill, but also here he realized that the reality of its passage is murkier than before. His main emphasis was mainly on how to get back to the creation of jobs.

Even when he has discussed how to create jobs, some big companies have announced huge cuts, although some have added small amounts of job but they have been miniscule as compared to the job cuts (for example Sam’s club and Verizon-more than 10,000 people being laid off). Main Street is still hurting but they are also afraid about the huge deficit that is being created in order to jump start the economy.

This huge deficit will have to be paid for and adding more job stimulus or other kinds of stimulus (when the first stimulus’s effect has not been fully reflected) will be a hard sell for the President.

To be blunt, we don’t have the money to have more stimulus, we can work on the existing tax codes and maybe create new policies which can have direct bearing on the employment situation. Nobody wants to take on more loans and have more debt. The American Public is trying to reduce their debt not increase it and anyway, even if the President wishes, it will not happen without bipartisan support, which is very much in doubt especially in the Senate.