eatbees blog

Even before the Qur’an was revealed, the Arab tribes of Mecca were celebrating the Feast of the Sacrifice, which commemorates Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son. This is the same story known to Jews and Christians from the Old Testament, only the Qur’an states that it was Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son, and not Isaac who was designated.

The “accidental president,” Gerald Ford, died Tuesday at the age of 93. He left a few comments with Bob Woodward about the war in Iraq, along with permission to release them after his death. “Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying the war in Iraq….”

Thanks to Ibn Kafka for pointing the way to this petition in defense of Nichane, the Moroccan magazine that has gotten into hot water for publishing a collection of popular jokes. The petition is not just a statement of support for Nichane, but a call to change the laws governing the press in Morocco.

What better way to “break the fast” of Blank Day than to discuss the idea of Blank Day, and whether it makes any sense?

I’ll be putting up a blank post tomorrow in solidarity with censored Tunisian blogs, so to keep you busy until Tuesday, here is some music….

Here are the actual jokes for which the Moroccan satirical magazine Nichane was banned. The magazine’s editor and the article’s author face a possibility of 3–5 years in prison. Meanwhile, the magazine has been banished from newsstands and the internet. These are jokes about sex, religion and politics that are told among friends. I know a number of such jokes myself, many of them racier than these.

Meet enlightened congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia, who wrote this in a letter to a supporter: “If American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.”

Two Arab nations, two acts of censorship. In Morocco, an Arab-language magazine has been taken out of circulation, and its web server shut down, because it dared to publish some jokes considred “injurious to Islam.” In Tunisia, at least three blogs were blocked yesterday in a form of censorship that allows the authors to keep posting, but prevents their blogs from being read inside Tunisia.

Hello George. This is God again. We’ve talked many times before. When I look down from on high, I’m thinking “That’s my boy!”