Why I Would Have Problems Voting for John Edwards

Q: The PATRIOT Act is two years old. There has been criticism of John Ashcroft for enforcement of legislation you authored. Shouldn't those who wrote the legislation take responsibility?

EDWARDS: There are provisions, which get no attention, which did good things. The reason we need changes is because it gave too much discretion to an attorney general who does not deserve it. The attorney general told us that he would not abuse his discretion. He has abused his discretion. We know that now.

[source: http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/John_Edwards_Civil_Rights.htm ... Scroll down to "Patriot Act..."]

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Edwards - 2008

The Lord's Prayer in Urdu

I have to admit, I have always thought that the opening lines of the "The Lord's Prayer" often repeated by a lot of Christians (or is just a Catholic thing?) have a very elegant sound to them--especially when chanted gently and in unison by a bunch of people--kinda like the "Ameen" one hears at the end of the Fatiha in congregations with enough Malikis in it (who tend to say it out loud, unlike most Urdu speakers, who usually follow the Hanafi school of Islamic practise):

Holy Father, who art in heaven
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth
As it is in heaven...

So, don't ask me how, but I stumbled on this a littel while ago and have been meaning to post it here; it's a page with the The Lord's Prayer in Urdu, together with a translation of "Ave Maria", the Catholic prayer to Bibi Maryam, The Virgin Mary, the formulation of the Trinity, and a couple of other things:

http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-urdu.html

Here's the prayer itself:

I have never actually heard it being chanted in Urdu. I wonder if it sounds anywhere near as sonorous; Urdu is a rather mellifluous language generally, so maybe it does...maybe some of the folks who were pillorying me on a list I am on for (they thought) being averse to any mention of Christianity and Pakistan in the same breath can help with that...

[First posted on "Urdu ke Naam"]

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Urdu - Christianity - Pakistan - India - Interfaith

HIjabi Cheerleader! I Kid You Not!!

A little while ago, when someone forwarded a picture of a female Iranian swimmer clad in a blue body suit complete with cap and added a humourous note to it, I was one of the people saying that one really shouldn't make fun of a person who was wearing such odd garb either out of religious conviction, or out of necessity born of pressure from her society and community--and most probably the institution, sporting or academic or what have you, that she was part of.

And it is in that context that I offer the following:

The girls in this picture are dressed the way they are dressed because society--and their school's uniform regulations--makes them dress the way they are dressed:



but take a look at this one, particularly the lady in the middle of this picture:



Is that a black abaya-clad person at the same event holding pom-poms?

I can make a lot of comments and pontificate, but would anyone else care to?

[The pictures, by the way, are taken from here.]

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Hijab - Cheerleaders - Pakistan