*shiver. This is why I like my friend's definition of his political position - socialist libertarian (in short, I want the government to pay for everything but stay out of my business lol)

I'm not going to be an alarmist about this but I do think it's worth being knowledgeable about and making sure proper safe guards are in place.

I just heard this in the car on the way home from getting David and it's one of the more disturbing things I've heard about our prison system.

Calgary Imam Syed Soharwardy said attacks on Canadian or American soil are essentially attacks on Muslims. (Larry MacDougal/Canadian Press)

A group of Canadian and U.S. Islamic leaders on Friday issued a fatwa, or religious edict, declaring that an attack by extremists on the two countries would constitute an attack on the 10 million Muslims living in North America.

The 20 imams associated with the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada said this marked the first fatwa by the Muslim clergy declaring attacks on Canada and the U.S. to be attacks on Muslims.

"In our view, these attacks are evil, and Islam requires Muslims to stand up against this evil," the imams said in their fatwa.

Calgary Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, said attacks on Canadian or U.S. soil are essentially attacks on Muslims.

"We are part of this society," he said. "This is my home, and if anybody attacks on Canada, in fact, attacks on my home."

The imams said it is a duty of every Muslim in Canada and the U.S. to safeguard the two countries.

"They must expose any person, Muslim or non-Muslim, who would cause harm to fellow Canadians or Americans," they said.

"It is religious obligation upon Muslims, based upon the Qur'anic teachings, that we have to be loyal to the country where we live," said Soharwardy. "We have no problems in Canada; we can practise our religion freely."

In Montreal, one of the signatories of the edict, Imam Nasir Qadri of the Anwar Musallah Mosque, said he spoke to his followers at his mosque about the issue Friday.

Most of them call Canada home and feel personally threatened by the attempted attacks, he said.

The 20 imams who signed the fatwa come from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Houston.

The fatwa comes just weeks after an attempted bombing on Christmas Day of a U.S. jet bound for Detroit from Amsterdam.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian man, has been indicted on six charges, which include attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder.

very cool

This is crazy

Since don't ask, don't tell was introduced, the military has discharged more than 13,000 lesbians, gays and bisexuals, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. A 2005 government report found that about 800 of them had skills deemed "critical," such as engineering and linguistics, and that it cost the military about $200 million to recruit and train their replacements.>> MORE

ok, I won't claim to really be in the know about GLBTQ rights abuse stats but this number was SHOCKING to me - 13,000?! This is appalling. Be sure to read the whole story, it's about one man's discharge experience.

I am of two minds on the "gay marriage issue". On one hand, I feel that if two hetero consenting adults want to get married and commit to one another in the eyes of the state, then two homosexual consenting adults should be able to. And as it stands right now, marriage is not just a sacrament or a personal commitment, it's a legal thing.

On the other hand, I feel that marriage shouldn't be something the government is involved in at all. I'm inclined to suggest that GLBTQ folks and their allies would be better served in fighting to change that whole arrangement completely so that the state gets out of the marriage business all together. That way, the only thing the state would recognize would be partnerships protecting a family's legal rights in areas such as medical decisions, insurance, etc. but "marriage" would not be defined or sanctioned by the state.

Maybe I'm an old fashioned American with "unrealistic expectations" but I find this article really depressing and I want to keep my monogamous marriage 'til death do us part' thank you very much.