Reader's Digest version:

"In giving the bylaw unanimous approval-in-principle, Vancouver city council members bowed to... ...Muslims and granted them a temporary exemption."

Posted by: Charles Bogle at October 2, 2007 2:52 AM

Not a bad decision - that way, the Mohammedans can get lung cancer. That way, Infidels should be prevented from smoking, while Muslims encouraged.

Memo to Infidels: don't take up hookahs.

Posted by: Infidel Pride at October 2, 2007 3:54 AM

I can envision the advertisement slogan for those lounges!

"I'd walk a mile for a hookah!"

:)

Posted by: Shy Guy at October 2, 2007 5:35 AM

...just another shining example of how Muslims do not want to assimilate into foreign countries, they want to make the rules, not follow them....

...Ban Muslim Immigration....

Posted by: exsgtbrown at October 2, 2007 6:11 AM

What are they smoking in those hookas, anyway?
BC Bud, perhaps?

Posted by: ImNoDhimmi at October 2, 2007 6:23 AM

Yes, cultural diversity is important. Do they get to put hashish in the hookahs in the name of cultural diversity or are they just allowed to sell hashish to the infidel because their religion allows them to finance the Jihad in this way?

Posted by: David England at October 2, 2007 6:42 AM

"Yes, cultural diversity is important."

.....not it the sense in which it was first conceived....in todays world it is important to those who want what someone else has....it has become a tool of the oppressors....to be used in courts and in immigration policies....some things must change...Ban Muslim Immigration.

Posted by: exsgtbrown at October 2, 2007 7:03 AM

Hey, this is a great precedent: now Rastas can apply for exemption for ganja, the Chinese for opium, the Chileans and Peruvians for cocaine, and the French for absinth - why should one community's cultural proclivities be respected when they run contrary to the law while another's are forced to comply.

Posted by: Tziona at October 2, 2007 7:07 AM

When my friend's grandfather came from China, he was warned by his children not to continue his occasional recreational practice of smoking opium. They told him it was not tolerated in his new country. He complied and happily smoked cigars. If only Grandpa had known of how things can be in Vancouver. He could have claimed cultural diversity and opened up a chain of opium dens!

Posted by: maryrose at October 2, 2007 7:14 AM

The hookah, or water pipe, or -- my favorite -- the hubble-bubble pipe, is not "safer than smoking."

See, for example, this:

Hooked on Hookahs
Smoking tobacco through water pipe is no safer, experts warn

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter

SATURDAY, Dec. 4 (HealthDayNews) -- The practice of smoking tobacco through elaborate water pipes called hookahs emerged centuries ago, in the palaces and harems of the Middle East. But experts say hookahs are now almost as popular in Denver as they are in Damascus, with the current fad for water-pipe use growing among U.S. college students.

Many young Americans may be attracted to hookahs because they believe smoke that passes through water is somehow filtered and safer, experts add.

Unfortunately, that's just not true.

"The data we have clearly shows that carbon monoxide is present in large amounts in smoke from water pipes, as is nicotine and the compounds we call 'tar,' " said Thomas Eissenberg, a researcher at the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"In fact, carcinogen exposure in hookah smoke is equal to, or more than, that found in cigarettes," said Eissenberg, who has published research on the health dangers of the hookah fad in numerous medical journals.

The hookah, also called nargile, is comprised of four parts -- the head, where burning charcoal heats a bed of tobacco; the body, through which inhaled smoke is drawn into the third section, a water-filled bowl at the hookah's base, and the hose, a flexible pipe through which the user inhales the smoke after it has bubbled through the water.

"What you get, then, is smoke that has been cooled by the water," Eissenberg said. Hookah use is, by its nature, a very social act, with groups of users often sharing the same pipe.

"Water pipes have been around for centuries, but it looks like they are making a real comeback," Eissenberg said. "They're making a new appearance in the U.S., but they're also coming back in the Middle East. They've also shown up in Germany and Brazil, and in Thailand -- where they were recently outlawed."

The exact number of water-pipe users in America remains unknown, he said, but new users typically discover hookahs in local Middle Eastern restaurants or bars, where they can be rented for short-term use.

"Then later they might say, 'Hey, this would be cool for me to have in my dorm,' and go to the Internet and buy one. They aren't expensive," Eissenberg said.

While traditional Middle Eastern hookah users tended to favor harsher, dryer tobacco, American users prefer maassel -- sweetened tobacco with tempting flavors like apple, watermelon, and licorice.

"The upsurge in use of water pipes, here and in the Middle East, is highly correlated with the mass-production of these sweetened and flavored tobaccos," Eissenberg said.

He stressed that the U.S. hookah fad isn't restricted to fringe populations in cities such as New York or San Francisco. "Washington state, Louisiana, Tennessee, here in Virginia -- it's popping up everywhere," he said.

While cigarette use has largely fallen out of favor with the college crowd, the exotic allure of hookahs -- and the misperception that hookah smoke is filtered and safer -- may be driving the trend.

"We really need to counter this idea that, just because there's water present, the smoke is safe," Eissenberg said. "We really need to get that across to people."

Legal restrictions might be in order, too, he said. "I suspect that we need to discourage the renting of water pipes, especially to underage individuals. They should be controlled in the same way that cigarettes are controlled."

The real danger, according to Eissenberg, is that hookahs may be getting many young, new users hooked on nicotine.

"Water pipes aren't convenient to use," Eissenberg pointed out. "So if somebody begins to find a water pipe and tobacco pleasurable, but they don't have a lot of time, what are they going to do? They're going to pick up cigarettes. So hookahs are, unfortunately, a potential gateway to smoking for young adults, and we certainly don't need a new gateway to tobacco use."

Dr. Norman H. Edelman, director of scientific affairs for the American Lung Association, said hookah users are taking a big chance if they think water pipes are safe.

"I've seen no data to support that. They're really rolling the dice when it comes to their health," he said.

Even if hookah smoke was somehow filtered, it probably wouldn't make any difference in terms of the actual amount of carcinogens inhaled per puff, Edelman said.

"We saw something similar with filtered cigarettes. Smoking is really all about getting nicotine into the system. So, with filtered cigarettes, people just dragged harder and longer on the cigarette to get the same amount of nicotine," he said.

Eissenberg agreed, adding that the time is now to nip the hookah craze in the bud.

"We don't want to get caught by surprise," he said. "I think we need to be vigilant when it comes to any new tobacco use method that comes into vogue."

Posted by: Hugh at October 2, 2007 7:51 AM

In the original Vancouver Sun article, the hookah advocate (not to be confused with hooker advocate) argued that going to these hookah parlors helps older Arab immigrants deal with their "depression" about being in a new country.

If the old geezers are really so "depressed" about being in my beloved Canada, I could personally escort them to Vancouver International Airport. Better that than let them indulge a filthy habit until they fall ill with cancer, then get all their medication and hospital bills paid for by the Canadian taxpayer. Send them back home if they're depressed. Or just let them be depressed. Maybe, deprived of their drug of choice, they'll eventually snap out of it and take up a healthier hobby, like lawn bowling.

BTW, do they allow women in these hookah parlours? Just wondering.

Posted by: angloirishslav at October 2, 2007 7:53 AM

Meanwhile, at least in Ontario, past and present members of our military, including war veterans, aren't allowed to smoke when they're inside a Royal Canadian Legion Hall. They protested and tried to fight the ruling but were not granted an exemption to the law.

Posted by: Josephine at October 2, 2007 7:56 AM

And what about those communities of Yemenis, longing for their qat, that leafy narcotic which 90% of Yemenis chew (as so Somalis and some Ethiopians), and indeed, knock off from work a little after mid-day to spend the rest of that day chewing qat? Why not make sure that they feel at home -- that is the point, isn't it -- to bring to Western countries all kinds of people, and make sure that they "feel at home" wherever they are, in Vancouver or Toronto, in New York or San Francisco, in Washington or London, must be made -- if they are Muslim at least -- to "feel at home" and every possible accommodation, including Shari'a laws, which Muslims claim, will for now be applied only by Muslims to Muslims, and only about divorce and inheritance and the treatment of Muslim women by Muslim men, and of Muslim apostates by Muslim believers, and what's the harm of that? Yes, why should non-Muslims care at all? In fact, it will please Muslims, and thus lessen the natural tensions that otherwise arise in society when Muslims are present, and feeling less than pleased with the larger society? Isn't that something to think about?

Yes, what's the harm of any of it? Hookah-parlors as the only exception to anti-nicotine regulations, which is merely a way to favor, provide an economic boon for, those hookah-parlor owners who are now claiming that exception on pseudo-"cultural" grounds.

Why stop there in the apparent need to be extra-solicitous of Muslims? Why not allow other groups of Muslims who need to "feel at home" while far from home, by opening up qat-chewing establishments? Or, for that matter, why should not restaurants include, so as not to interrupt the dining pleasure of customers, little prayer-rooms on the side, to which Muslim diners may repair, say, in the middle of lunch, or even the middle of dinnner, if the diners are eating fashionably late?

Yes, I'll have that salat-and-salad special. And would you mind leaving the dressing on the side? I'd prefer to put it on myself.

Posted by: Hugh at October 2, 2007 8:07 AM

A sign of the times. Extend a right or privilege to Muslims, to hell with ordinary Canadians.

Any one connecting the dots yet?

Posted by: sounder at October 2, 2007 9:06 AM

Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others.

Posted by: Isabellathecrusader at October 2, 2007 9:30 AM

Those pesky Canadians are learning to bow very nicely.

How dare they even try to stand in the way of Sharia Law? ("Culture")

The smoking Nazis kowtow to the Islamonazis.

It would be funny, except that it leads to our doom.

Posted by: profitsbeard at October 2, 2007 10:01 AM

The Palestinian head scarf, the hookah, anything 'Islamic' is cool among a large group of 'trendy lefty multiculti youths'when I moved out of a midwestern university town this week.

The 'fashions' of hip hop, black prison gangs and the glorification of the pimp and the drug dealer are getting a little old. Suicide bomber culture is chic.

I have fled to a poor and obscure and beautiful corner of rural mid-America where I won't have to see any of it.

Posted by: poetcomic1 at October 2, 2007 10:01 AM

At first I was in favour, indeed a great idea. Then I realized it wasn't "hooker parlours" being discussed. Damn.

Posted by: johnb at October 2, 2007 10:08 AM

I am not quite sure why everyone is surprised by this story. In New York City it is the same. There are several hooka bars in the lower east side who are exempt from the city's smoking bad due to cultural considerations.

Certainly other cities in the US so the same thing.

Posted by: Alisa at October 2, 2007 10:34 AM

... aren't we forgetting something??

Where do Hookahs originally come from?

After about 20 seconds of research (wikipedia & www.hookahculture.com) (yes, I know wikipedia isn't always truthful, but a lot of it is content guarded (by the people who post)) It says that the hookah came from India... since when is India either a) part of the middle east or b) when has India become "Muslim?"

Damn those capitalistic countries (smaller satans?) selling cancer to the believers!

:P

-Peter

ps for those of you who forgot, India = Hindu (predominately) and is not covered by the "People of the Book" that the dhimmi is for... maybe they were just preparing for the Global Jihad and decided to try to give as many of the Muslims cancer to make the war easier :D

Posted by: Peter Nielson at October 2, 2007 10:44 AM

"maybe they were just preparing for the Global Jihad and decided to try to give as many of the Muslims cancer to make the war easier :D

Posted by: Peter Nielson "

....Muslims need not worry about healthcare if Hilliary gets elected,, the government will take care of you....she has her own healthcare plan to put into action....

Posted by: exsgtbrown at October 2, 2007 10:48 AM

can canadians open up cigar bars? or cigarette lounges? how can they do this? surely this will open up the legal flood gates for challanging this smoking ruling which should allow cigar and cigarette bars?

canadians need to challange this and open up their own lounges.

Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at October 2, 2007 11:08 AM

The religion of special needs.

Be it hookah, foot baths, burka, halal slaughter, community sharia law, time off for prayers (if employed), - the list is growing by the day,- it all must be catered for. The special people, the privileged people demand it.
And they get it every time.

No other sections of the society are that fortunate.

Posted by: pr126 at October 2, 2007 11:14 AM

Okay, that's it. I'm starting my own religion. If a subgroup can have this sort of thing on the basis of 'culture' or 'religion' then I'm in.

If smokers ( the world's worst pariah ) get an exemption because they're members of a cult-ural minority, then by the great hammer of Thor I will start my own belief system. Anything goes, as long as I, the instrument and conduit of The-Great-Tool-in-the-Sky, get everything I want in this life. I must be satiated to keep The-Great-Tool-in-the-Sky from raining down its wrath. Keeping me satiated won't be easy, since I have large appetites, but it's for the good of all, you know. Why risk eternal hammer pounding for witholding from me, the conduit? It's only money, power and pu$$y you have to give up. I'll keep it simple.

Posted by: A_Plague_on_Both_Houses at October 2, 2007 11:15 AM

"Going to these hookah parlors helps older Arab immigrants deal with their "depression" about being in a new country"?

That's it? I would imagine it takes more than that - how about dressing all women in burkas, stoning the gays, having infidels cross to the other side of the street, and holding slave markets on weekends? Welfare payments (so high in Canada) can count as infidel tax (takiya). Whats next?

Posted by: yankee imp at October 2, 2007 11:41 AM

At first I was in favour, indeed a great idea. Then I realized it wasn't "hooker parlours" being discussed. Damn.

Posted by: johnb

johnb, you should just become a muslim. Then you can get a hastily arranged marriage to a wild and slutty womens any time you feel the urge, afterwhich you will not only have dealt with your momentary lust, you will also be able to be righteously indignant with western culture because they are so morally loose!

Posted by: Stand fast in the liberty at October 2, 2007 12:24 PM

Yes, not hookahs, but hooking up with those wild and slutty womens, may be the answer to all those Important Things We All Wrestle With when we are alone with ourselves.

Man's Inhumanity To Man. The Dark Night of the Soul. Stuff like that.

Posted by: Hugh at October 2, 2007 12:35 PM

that way, the Mohammedans get lung cancer

-Infidel Pride.

Yeah? Who gets to pay for that in Canada's wonderous "free" healthcare system? The hardworking infidels that's who.

Posted by: JadeDragoness at October 2, 2007 12:40 PM

Hugh Fitzgerald mentioned qat and Toronto.

Copied & pasted from Saturday's National Post:

http://tinyurl.com/2vwl38

A game of khat and mouse
Drug reaches limits of multiculturalism
Stewart Bell, National Post
Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007

TORONTO -The shop was empty. The shelves behind the glass display counter were bare, no one was playing at the pool table. But the storekeeper, a woman in traditional Somali dress, was remarkably busy for someone who looked to have nothing for sale. One after another, customers entered her tiny corner store and left carrying small plastic bags containing foot-long plant stems sprouting dark green leaves.

Another shipment of "khat" had arrived.

Khat is a shrub that grows only in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and it has suddenly joined the ranks of Canada's most problematic illicit drugs.

Seventeen tonnes were seized last year in crackdowns in Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. Police now seize more khat than cocaine, heroin, opium, crack, meth and Ecstasy combined. That's partly because it's a bulky drug. Still, there were almost 900 seizures in 2006.

A National Post investigation has found that, despite a crackdown at the border and police probes of the major smuggling rings, shipments are still arriving regularly at Canadian distribution points such as restaurants and coffee shops, where it is sold from backroom counters. The Post found khat being openly bought, sold and consumed in Toronto.

Khat is also the topic of an emerging debate in Canada, one that touches on thorny issues, from the rights of immigrants to the limits of multiculturalism and the influence of Islamist extremists.

[...]

When civil war erupted in the late 1980s, and Somali refugees scattered around the world, khat followed them. Canada responded by banning the plant, formally known as catha edulis, under the Controlled Drugs and Substance Act.

"It is an offence to possess, to traffic, to import," said Inspector Lise Crouch, officer in charge of the RCMP's Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness Service. "It's an illegal drug."

But Canada's khat law is a sore point within the Canadian Somali community, which numbers about 150,000, one of the largest in the world. Khat users complain it has criminalized part of their culture and that it was a result of lobbying by Saudi-educated imams who want to impose their austere codes of conduct on the entire community.

[...]

Moreover, Mr. Doli said he believes the law is unconstitutional.

"Every community in Canada has something that is special to their culture," he said. "Khat is specific to the Somali and Yemeni communities. So when khat is criminalized, in essence you have criminalized the culture of these communities.

"Any law that affects specifically a group of people to the exclusion of other Canadians is a direct violation of the Charter," he said.

Mr. Doli is not the only one who thinks the law violates the Charter of Rights. Ed Morgan, who teaches law at the University of Toronto, thinks it should be struck down.

"In Somalia, khat is not like drugs in Western culture," said Mr. Morgan, former president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. "It's a very open part of the culture."

Mr. Morgan has already filed a constitutional challenge on behalf of one of Mr. Doli's clients, but it died when the Crown stayed the charges. The basis of the challenge: the law unfairly targets Somalis and is unjustified, since there is insufficient proof khat is harmful.

[...]

Posted by: Josephine at October 2, 2007 12:40 PM

Sounds like the double standards of the Clintons....

'I smoked, but I did not inhale'.

Posted by: alaskan1000 at October 2, 2007 12:54 PM

"When is smoking not smoking"
-- Robert's title to the article above

When a hookah is more than a smoke.

And a hookah for imporessionable Canadians and Americans will always be "more than a smoke," of course, because that hookah-parlor will offer an experience of the Middle-Eastern exotic that will seem, to some, entirely pleasant, relaxing, so far from the hectic vacancy of our lives, and if further touches are added -- the click-clack of dominoes or tric-trac, the cable television mounted on the wall and on at all times, tuned to Al Jazeera -- the similarity to Arab hubble-bubble establishments will be complete, save of course that there will be, in these places in Vancouver, women who would never be permitted to accompany men to such places in the Arab lands.

Fashion can be a tool, for or against. When it is fashionable to wear the PLO keffiyeh, that is not good. When it is fashionable to use the hookah, that is not good. When it is fashionable to read Rumi and then to think that Rumi means Islam, that is not good. Everything connects.

Posted by: Hugh at October 2, 2007 1:03 PM

OT: WELCOME TO OAK LAWNISTAN, IL

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_271104049.html

Holiday Traditions
School District To Discuss Cancellation Or Renaming Of Holiday Celebrations At Emergency Meeting

Suzanne Le Mignot
Reporting

(CBS) OAK LAWN, Ill. A southwest suburban school district has taken action, responding to the concerns of a Muslim parent.

But now, as CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, other parents are angry that traditional school holidays will be renamed or even eliminated.

"That does not represent all the Muslims, all of the Arabs at that school," said Qais Nofel, the father of a student in Ridgeland School District 122.

There was some heated discussion between parents outside Columbus Manor Elementary School in Oak Lawn on Friday. The thought of no more traditional holiday celebrations has many parents really upset.

For now, children in Ridgeland School District 122 will celebrate fall festival instead of Halloween and winter festival instead of Christmas.

Brenda Elvidge said, "It's not fair to our kids. This is America and that's an American tradition."

The decision affects the children at four elementary schools in Oak Lawn and one junior high school in Bridgeview.

The district has a 30 percent Arab-American population, many of whom practice Islam. The superintendent says the reason for the change in tradition comes after one parent wanted Ramadan decorations put up inside Columbus Manor Elementary. They were taken down.

Superintendent Tom Smyth said, "I go back to our policy which says that public schools are to remain neutral in this respect."

Ridgeland School District 122 has called for an emergency meeting on the issue, to be held on Tuesday.

Meantime, Muslim children are being allowed to pray during what's being called their own time, that's lunch time, during Ramadan.

Parent June Quigley said, "They get to pray in our schools. That is religion in a public school."

Muslim parents have different views on the issue.

Sala Abour said, "To take away Halloween and Christmas from little kids, that is very wrong."

Nofel said, "We go and we celebrate the holidays and traditions here, but we do have the right to be Muslims as well."

Other parents say the controversy is overshadowing what really needs to be addressed at all five schools in the district.

Ronnie Carroll said, "The fact that they are cash strapped. Our classroom size is way above the average mean, 38 children in our first grade classroom. The concern should be our school, not the whole holiday issues."

Those issues along with the holiday controversy are going to be addressed at a school board meeting on Tuesday. Members will decide if holidays will be celebrated or not.

Meantime, the Illinois PTA district director says the state is now investigating this issue and there's a meeting with the superintendent next week.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Posted by: Paleologos at October 2, 2007 2:30 PM

When is killing seals , not killing seals ?

Vancouver and B.C. used to be very strict over protecting the Coastal seal population but this was exposed as a farce because some Asian Eateries offered a Dish that was a normal staple back home which used Seal parts in it.

In Toronto , a well known SuperMall was selling Pirated DVD's and when the RCMP raided the stores as part of getting tough on the Copy Right laws they only Warned the people to not do it again .
Why would a group of people who Broke the Law for Copied DVD's sold as Retail even before the Major video outlets , this is a Asian area with mainly new Immigrants from China and it appears that Canada is afraid to offend China and harm the massive Trade deals with them.

Even the Humane Society turned a blind eye to the Muslims that were slaughtering Goats against the pre-existing Laws in Canada because they didn't want to upset all Muslims.

Enough is enough , we can't have Laws where the Police must carry a list of what people and groups are exempt from them by a special dispensation for a Cultural practise .

Posted by: ala-sux at October 2, 2007 3:54 PM

You can't smoke the Hookah indoors? It has to be outside?

Gimme a break!

Posted by: tanstaafl at October 2, 2007 4:17 PM

When is RAPE not RAPE , when a Muslim female fears Shariah law in canada and has to change
her story to appease CAIR.

Below is a recent article by CAIR-Canada and it is so ironic because CAIR was one of the groups Demanding Shariah Law in Ontario for females during family disputes with children and money along with Marriage in general according to the Mosque's version of the Quran.

--------------------------------------------------

No Stigma for Rape Victims in Islam
Thursday, September 27, 2007 12:35 pm

- For Immediate Release -

(Ottawa, Canada - Sept 27, 2007) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) and Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA) today said there should be no stigma attached to rape or sexual assault victims. Both Muslim groups also urged women to report every incident of sexual violence.

CAIR-CAN and ISSA are seeking to clarify the Islamic position on attitudes toward victims of sexual violence following a recent report that a Muslim university student who was sexually assaulted is concerned about a possible negative response from the community.

In a joint statement the two organizations said:

"Victims of any crime, and particularly the crime of sexual assault, must have the support of both the justice system and of the communities in which they live. Faith is a source of comfort, not a source of shame for the victims.

"There is no stigma associated with rape or sexual assault victims in Islam. The Quran clearly states that no person should be punished for the wrongdoing of another. If anything, a stigma should be linked to the perpetrator. Islam puts a positive duty on each and every individual in the community to fully support victims.

"Only a distorted cultural view would motivate someone to reject a victim of sexual assault. This callous attitude has absolutely no place in Islam."

Women's rights, often misunderstood, have been central to the teachings of authentic Islam for 14 centuries. Quranic verses (6:164), (17:15), and (53:38) state that no one should be punished for the crimes of another.

CAIR-CAN and ISSA are urging victims of sexual assault or domestic abuse to call ISSA at 1-866-239-ISSA. A booklet on how to help victims of sexual abuse is available by calling ISSA. Visit: http://www.issaservices.com

- 30 -

CONTACT: Shahina Siddiqui, ISSA President, (204) 944-1560; or,
Sameer Zuberi, CAIR-CAN Communications Coordinator, (613) 254-9704 or (613)
795-2012.

--------------------------------------------------

The original report said she was beaten unconscience and got a broken jaw and dislocated shoulder and was tied up as if to be a hostage.

CAIR is in damage-control for their pro-Shariah Whahabi islam by the Saduis that have funded many of the Militant Mosques and Jihad friendly Imams.

Check out this story just days after the rape and ask yourself why a Pro-Shariah law Org. is now mitigated the attack and almost absolving the rapist for merely beating her almost to death.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=967db5f1-8a02-4da2-930b-98b97ea44958

Somebody is telling a big lie here and I'll trust Doctors at a Hospital that then claims by CAIR's Whahabi Members being paid as puppets of the Saudis.

Posted by: ala-sux at October 2, 2007 4:44 PM

I'll buy the idea that smoking a hookah is not smoking when someone explains to me how Bill Clinton finally parsed, "what is is".

Why give in only to smoking hookahs as cultural? Why not set aside, and even landscape, killing fields for gay and errant wives?

Posted by: Shawmut at October 2, 2007 6:47 PM

"The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) and Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA) today said there should be no stigma attached to rape or sexual assault victims. Both Muslim groups also urged women to report every incident of sexual violence."

I'll bet they did. It is probably so much easier to eliminate the victims if they come forward and "report every incident." This will expedite honor killings in Canada and make them ever so efficient.

Honor killing is not a family value...unless you're Muslim.

Posted by: Isabellathecrusader at October 2, 2007 10:08 PM

I prefer hooker lounges.

Posted by: TheOmegaMan at October 3, 2007 12:11 AM

When CAIR and ISSA announce a worldwide forum on Islamic Reformation and a modernizing of the Koranic texts to make Islam an actual "religion" that recognizes the legitimacy of alternative belief systems and the separation of Church and State, then maybe they can be given a legitimate seat at the table (knowing full well that half at least of all Muslims worldwide will put a price on their heads).

Otherwise, we can only deduce that CAIR/ISSA and all similar taqiya organizations in the West are co-conspirators with the unmitigated atrocities brought daily upon the non-Muslim world across the Earth DAILY.

CAIR, we don't even want to HEAR from you. You are Bin Laden's court jester, and we are TOTALLY onto your game.

Posted by: JohnAdams at October 3, 2007 1:05 AM

Coincidentally, just up to this chapter in Day of Islam, chapter 12; O Canada! Haven of Islamic Terror!

All these capitulations, of course, prove terrorism fulfills its purpose in more ways than even the islamics could have imagined. Thats why the US is going to get a 9/11 memorial pointed towards mecca, and the lest goes on and on.

Posted by: savitch at October 3, 2007 1:39 AM

list

Posted by: savitch at October 3, 2007 1:42 AM

I agree that "cultural" exemptions like this are just absurd, but it's idiotic to equate enjoying smoking a hookah/argielah with being an impressionable lefty college student.

I've been occasionally smoking an argielah I brought home from the ME for a decade now, not because it's exotic (although it does remind me of a great trip and one fantastic archaeological dig), but because it's a totally different smoke than anything else I've ever experienced. The flavors, the clean feeling given by the water filtration or whatever it is, makes the smoke really relaxing. I also smoked one of my hookahs once while reading Robert's Truth About Muhammad, and still never got the urge to read Chomsky or recite the shahadah.

Never been hooked on it, either. I've been smoking an average of maybe three times a year since 1997. No cigarettes, either. Maybe four cigars a year. I'm against cigarettes, but this "all tobacco is equally murderous" and addictive is a bit bizarre. Cigarettes and their additives are pure evil. Some of the other tobacco products, while not healthy, aren't as big a deal, no matter what bluestocking doctors want to tell us.

Posted by: OutOfAqaba at October 3, 2007 6:08 AM

Marijuana is important to my culture, but I don't see the Canadian government legalizing it.

Posted by: ImNoDhimmi at October 3, 2007 6:40 AM

Rastafarians tried to get the cultural/religious exemption here (in Canada) but it didn't happen.

Posted by: Josephine at October 3, 2007 8:23 AM

I have fled to a poor and obscure and beautiful corner of rural mid-America where I won't have to see any of it.
Posted by: poetcomic1

I don't think you'd be willing to share more info? I am looking for a place to move out of New York to where they don't hand driver's licenses to illegal aliens and where I don't have to cross paths daily with these MoFoes in their hospital gowns.

There are TWO mosks in my neighborhood. That's two mosks that I know of.

I am in business for myself and am looking to set up shop somewhere else. Where my taxes are a. lower and b. don't pay to feed and accommodate the enemies of society.

Posted by: Allahfanculo at October 3, 2007 11:14 AM

Oh, and there are more than a few "hooka" bars in my nabe as well. Did you know that you can smoke cigarettes in a hook bar?

I've seen it with my own eyes and I've been told as much.

Posted by: Allahfanculo at October 3, 2007 11:28 AM