Islamic Nut Lays Out His Case for Shar'ia in the UK

Wow! Free electricity! Shar'ia law sure is neato.

Note to Daily Kos Hobbyhorse Riders

Just for the record, I never accused anyone of being "unpatriotic for disagreeing with Bush". I'm not sure anyone I know did, to be honest. I know some people accused opponents of the Iraq war for being unpatriotic—I think Tom DeLay did, but he's gone now, or maybe they didn't notice. This could be placed under the general heading of not allowing politics to end at the water's edge, as was at once precedent. That is a little different than "disagreeing with the President" which seems to me to be a respectable American tradition regardless of one's political stripe. However this GWB squelching of dissent meme is a sacred mantra and a hallowed hobbyhorse on the left at this point, and I suppose I am guilty of religious discrimination for relegating it to fairy tale status.

But go on ahead and try to mock Kathleen's letter. Ridiculing parents' concern for their children should serve to further marginalize your radical views.

And thanks for reprinting the letter. I'll bet Kathleen is happy you reprinted it which is more than the moldy pigskin blogettes did.

sXe

John Hood's quip on the Corner this morning reminded me of my days as a Fugazi fan circa 1990. A friend of mine had their 2nd EP Margin Walker and it just blew me away. I had just gotten my first CD player, so I purchased 13 songs which contained their first 2 EPs.

Fugazi's appeal to me most likely had something to do with the fact that I had just gone through this huge girlfriend breakup and a lot of really angry, testosterone-achieved guys screaming and wailing on guitars totally made sense. They were also supposed to be really "smart" and "socially conscious" — whatever the hell that means — which separated them from Suicidal Tendencies, Gang Green and other skate-punk faves. Their lyrics were impenetrable enough to seem profound; I don't pretend to be able to fathom what the following rapped lines from "Bulldog Front" really means:

Ahistorical — you think this shit just dropped right out of the sky
My analysis — it's time to harvest the crust from your eyes

...but it's great because it can basically be used to diss the ideas of anyone you don't like. The bonus is it contains great words like crust and shit.

"Burning Too" contains a more uplifting message, tunefully reminiscent of Bowie's "Rebel Rebel":

This world is not our facility
We have a responsibility
To use all of our abilities
To keep this place alive

Those lines always remind me of a poem a third-grade girl might have penned to caption her crayon submission to the local Earth Day coloring contest. But as with all great Fugazi compositions, it is redeemed by the red-faced yelling during the chorus: "WE GOTTA PUT IT OUT!! DO IT!! DO IT NOW!!!!"

When you go flying off your skate board into a sewer grate you need something to unite your suffering to that of the whole human race. And if you aren't Catholic at the time and don't realized that's one of the purposes of the Mass, Fugazi will have to do. Being "straight edge" helps one avoid many evils, but you can't thrive on a steady diet of nothing. Maybe that chapter of my youth subconsciously helped lead to my conversion.