The Rant

Bob: I don't want to start a culture war, but how can you name your snot nose kid Mohammed , but you get sent to prison or worse by naming a teddy bear Mohammed . I suppose when I go to Mass (not recently) and I want the host being transformed, I have a moment of pause, but I really can't understand the logic of the teddy bear crime. I both cases I have no idea what possesses people to believe in such religious practices and proscriptions, but teddy bear naming. Frankly, I think millions of people throughout the world should send monogrammed teddy bears to all Muslim countries with the name Mohammed sewn on to them. We should have planes dropping little stuffed animal Mohammed bombs all over their cities. Maybe little children would educate their parents how stupid this case is.

A Saudi Court sentenced a woman who had been gang raped to six months in jail and 200 lashes.  Her crime?  She was kidnapped while in public with a person that was not her male relative, which violates Sharia law.    Link to story . 

A second night of riots by "youths" in a Paris suburb left more than 80 police injured, five critically. Around 100 men hurled petrol bombs and bricks at police in the town of Villiers le Bei.  Several buildings were damaged. Guns were used against the police.     Link to story    The disturbance came after a 15 and 16 year old boys were killed in a motorbike crash when their motorbike hit a police patrol car.  The police were accused of leaving the scene after the accident, but three eye witnesses interviewed on television say the police tried to revive the boys after the crash.  The police said that the boys ran a red light without wearing helmets on an unregistered bike.  The boys are African immigrants.  Omar Sehhouli, the brother of one of the victims, told the French media that "What happened that's not violence, it' rage."  With more than 5 million Muslims living in France, 70 percent from France's former colony of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, Is

The Sudanese police arrested a British schoolteacher and accused her  of insulting Islam after she allowed her 7 year old pupils to namea class teddy bear Muhammad.   Do you think that Allah is more insulted by the naming of a teddy Bear after Muhammad, or by the arrest of a schoolteacher for this crime?  Muhammad is the most popular name in Islamic countries.  If it is not an insult to Islam to name an ordinary fallible human being by the glorious prophet's name, why is it an insult to name a teddy bear?  Do you think that Muhammad is so insecure that he would care if seven year olds named a teddy bear after him?  This is so silly.  What would you think of a King who arrested a teacher because the school children named a teddy bear after the King?  LINK to story   

Bob: This is truly outrageous. $52 Million-Plus Payday for Christie's Old Boss By John P. Martin and Jeff Whelan The Star-Ledger Tuesday 20 November 2007 Ashcroft firm to monitor med-implant settlement. When U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie announced a $311 million settlement to end a probe into kickbacks by leading manufacturers of knee and hip replacements, he touted the agreement as a groundbreaking development for consumers and the industry. The deal also proved to be lucrative for Christie's old boss. Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was one of five private attorneys whom Christie hand-picked to monitor the implant makers. Now Ashcroft's D.C.-based firm is poised to collect more than $52 million in 18 months, among the biggest payouts reported for a federal monitor. Disclosed in SEC filings, the arrangement calls for Zimmer Holdings of Indiana to pay Ashcroft Group Consulting Services an average monthly fee between $1.5 million an