The Truffle

Contrary to what the Islam-bashers like to believe, a lot of the misogyny in Islamic societies has no basis in the Quran. It's either a. made-up crap that illiterates use to keep women down or b. local customs that are confused with Islamic doctrine. Mind you, I'm sure the Islamophobes are sincere in their commitment to women's rights. So they'd support reproductive rights for American women...right? RIGHT? Ahem. Back to the subject... Pseudo-Adrienne reports that Kenyan health activists are fighting female genital mutilation by citing from the Quran. Specifically, that the Quran says nothing about FGM and does not, repeat NOT require women and girls to go through with it. So many anti-woman or just plain anti-human policies have been enacted in the name of Islam when in fact they have nothing to do with Islam. Perhaps the way to fight these "Islamic" traditions is to point out that they are not Islamic at all.

Via Glenn Greenwald, we find that the wingnutocracy is still unnerved over the election of a Muslim (!) to Congress. The Muslim in question is a Minnesotan with the very un-Arabic name of Keith Ellison, who converted to Islam in college. First we had Glenn Beck, saying, "Prove to me that you are not working with our enemies." Now Dennis Prager, is angry because Congressman-elect Ellison will be taking his oath of office on the Koran. It is, after all, the holy book he believes in. Being a busybody with no understanding of how the Constitution works, Prager doesn't like this: He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization. Gee, really? Will American civilization suddenly, inexplicably collapse because Ellison places his hand on a Koran? Is this some weird part of God's plan we don't know about? Could Prager explain how this is possible? First, it is an act of hu...