Free Republic

MANKATO, Minn. — Professional pollsters think they’ve got their finger on the pulse of the nation's presidential preference. But with Halloween approaching, there may be another way to predict the election outcome: the popularity of Democrat President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney masks. Sales of both have been brisk at BuyFun.com. And perhaps telling, though it is not known if the masks are being purchased because of candidate preference or scariness. “Our mask sales have reflected an interesting pattern lately,” said spokeswoman Aleksandra Sobic. “Overall, Obama masks have outsold Romney masks. "However, whereas in September Obama masks were selling...

I figured it would be funny to have a thread devoted to all of the strange supposed Presidential Election 2008 predictors. Please post a history of the ones you know and any news on how current ones are playing out.

A MUSLIM woman was prevented from getting on a bus in Greater Manchester because she would not remove her veil. The 22-year-old Manchester University student from Oldham says other passengers laughed when the driver refused to let her on because he could not check her identity with her bus pass. Now the driver's bosses at First Manchester are to meet with their trade association, the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), to seek advice on how to deal with the problem if other passengers with photo passes refuse to lift their veils. Advertisement your story continues below They say they have...

THE Italian feminist politician Daniela Santanche has been given 24-hour police protection after her strident views on the Muslim veil drew an apparent death sentence from an imam.On a television chat show, Santanche, 45, an MP for the right-wing National Alliance party, clashed with Ali Abu Shwaima, the imam of a mosque near Milan. “The veil isn’t a religious symbol and it isn’t prescribed by the Koran,” she said. “And in our country there is a law which forbids – for reasons of terrorism – people going around with masks on.” Shwaima, an Italian national, retorted: “The veil is an...

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that promoting a society where no religious symbols are visible in public is "politically dangerous" and warned against a march towards secularism in Britain. Rowan Williams said he was making his views known in an effort to bring perspective to the ongoing debate on the wearing of Islamic veils, Christian crosses and other visible expressions of religious belief. "The ideal of a society where no visible public signs of religion would be seen - no crosses around necks, no sidelocks, turbans or veils - is a politically dangerous one. "It assumes that what comes...

In another example of Western societal immolation, the University of Toronto is allowing a professor to teach his class that westerners who stand against the use of the veil by Muslim women living in western societies are but intolerant, bigots standing against Islam. He is claiming that being against the use of the veil is merely a western "fear" that is grounded solely in ignorance. Westerners face up to their fear of the veil As European politicians these days denounce the Muslim veil as inappropriate, University of Toronto Islamic legal scholar Anver Emon gives his students an exercise to show...

Modesty and menace Barbara Kay National Post Wednesday, October 25, 2006 MONTREAL - Last week, while being buffed for an interview on a French-language TV talk show, I observed a quartet of young Muslim women trooping in for their touch-ups. They were amateur models who, in the segment following mine, would serve as visual accompaniment to a commentator's discourse on the diversity of Muslim "fashion." The girls primped, and tweaked their respective costumes: a hijab, two different styles of chador and the full-body, face-veiling niqab. Lately it has become more acceptable to admit to "cover recoil." Certainly I felt...

Judge Tosses Case When Muslim Refuses to Unmask in Court The promoters of Islamic misogyny are not only active in Europe; they’re continually testing the strength of American society too: Muslim woman refuses to remove her veil in court, so judge tosses case. (Hat tip: LSD.) And again, we see mainstream media (the Detroit Free Press) running interference for the Council on American Islamic Relations. DETROIT - Ginnnah Muhammad of Detroit was looking for her day in court. Instead, she said she felt as if a judge forced her to choose between her case and her religion in a small-claims...

MUSLIM women wearing face veils can board passenger planes without having to show their face or produce identification. But they may draw loud taunts as they walk along Melbourne's streets. The veil, or niqab, is at the centre of controversy in many Western nations. It is said to make non-Muslims uncomfortable. I dressed "under cover" this week for the Sunday Herald Sun to test reactions to the garment from different sections of the community. While wearing the face covering, I was singled out for a random explosive-trace test at Melbourne Airport. At no stage did security ask that the veil...