Here is a marvelous bit of satire, unfortunately not all that farfetched, from the great Nidra Poller:
Despite the efforts of a small group of Zionist extremists, extreme right wing journalists, and pro-Zionist neocon extremists to torpedo the project, the US Oceanography Institute has finally moved into new state-of-the-art laboratories in the suburbs of Topeka Kansas. A highly vocal minority whose hidden agenda is a secret to no one had campaigned against the Tal-Felo Institute, peppering a host of right wing media with pernicious diatribes. The Institute, named after Prince Tal-Felo of the Kansas Wheat Dynasty, is equipped with the most advanced scientific instruments for plunging into the secrets of the lower depths, including pearl-handled hook-lines-and-sinkers, gold-encrusted sextants, and other precious artefacts of the dynasty. The Topeka, Kansas Oceanographic Institute, staffed with a bevy of brilliant scientists, under the direction of the distinguished Marabout Diop-Diallo of Timbuctu, will outshine the plethora of second-rate ocean-shore centers that have been bobbing on the waves of piddling continents for decades. While Dr. Diop-Diallo’s team will concentrate its study on masculine currents, a team of scientesses (seen here in matching pearl-embroidered hijab) will concentrate on female inhabitants of the deep seas. A series of conferences scheduled for the fiscal year 2006-7 will feature honoured guests from Prince Tal-Felo’s Oklahoma provinces, where oceanographic studies have reached unprecedented levels of finesse.
It will be no surprise to learn that disgruntled scientists from the dismantled facilities on the coast of Maine have joined the Opposition. Having lost the Oceanographic Institute battle, they are turning their sights on another fruitful initiative, the Prince Taltalatal Center for Interfaith Understanding, recently established in the east wing of the White House. Making no secret of their outrageous Islamophobia, the activists are circulating a petition against the broadcast of the muezzin’s call to prayer from the minaret erected on the roof of the Center for the purpose of spreading interfaith understanding throughout the nation’s capital. Pickets are being kept at a safe distance. A police spokesman explains that the gender mixing and improper dress of the picketers would be offensive to Professor Mullah, director of the Interfaith Understanding Center.
This reporter was invited to tour the Center, richly decorated with Oriental carpets and exotic lighting fixtures. What a touching sight it was to watch youngsters from all races, creeds, and colors gathered together in the Center’s madrassa, repeating chapters and verses illustrative of interfaith understanding. Their shoes””a multicultural collection of Nikes, Adidas, Geox, and Campers””were lined up like a troop of little soldiers in a war to bring interfaith understanding to all, united together in the faith of understanding, one faith, one understanding.
As we stand on the threshold of a new year, science and spirituality soar to new heights, with the Prince Tal-Felo Oceanographic Institute in Topeka, Kansas, and the Saudi Prince Taltalatal Center for Interfaith Understanding in Washington, DC. Bright prospects in the wake!