NY beheading; Texas legislature; Smoking ban

The Nightly Build...

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Muslim Killing in New York

Bruce Tomaso, in The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, passes on, without comment, a CNN report that "Muzzammil Hassan, who founded Bridges TV in upstate New York with the aim of countering negative stereotypes about Muslims, has confessed to beheading his wife."

1. Tragic.
2. Ironic.
3. See. Muslims are fanatic killers.
4. See. Religious fundamentalism is dangerous.

That this is tragic is simply true. My condolences to the woman's family.

The irony, of course, lies in the parenthetical comment that the man who sought to counter negative stereotypes about Muslims is now accused of beheading his wife.

Whether or not this says something about Muslims in general or religious fundamentalists in general is a point of contention that will probably keep bloggers busy for days. Bruce Tomaso offers no editorial comment, but don't expect readers to show such restraint.

Reader "JohnFranc" says, "if any Christians wish to claim this is a typical example of Islam, fairness requires you to accept Jim Jones, David Koresch, Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph as typical examples of Christianity."

Reader "Claire" objects, "I'd have to say this is indeed typical and socially acceptable in many Islamic countries" and the Christian killers, on the other hand, are "hardly typical."

Surprisingly, no one took the fourth attitude, that religious fundamentalism, not Islam or Christianity per se, is what's dangerous. It probably comes closest to my reaction. I think that it overstates the danger, in general, but obviously not for this one victim in New York, in particular.

I think the best reply was a single word by an unknown blogger, whose comment was deleted for some unknown reason. He said, simply, "Facepalm".

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The Flip Side of Partisanship

Jim Mitchell, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, asks if new Speaker of the Texas House Joe Strauss' honeymoon is over. Democrat Matt Angle is criticizing Republican Strauss for making committee assignments that are "unquestionably partisan and ideological."

Let's see. Republicans have a majority in the House. Strauss is Republican. What did the Democrats expect him to do other than appoint Republicans to run the House? Angle notes that Strauss owes his election to Democrats. Not really. Democrats didn't have enough votes to elect a Speaker, so they played spoiler. That's all the power they had. They voted against Tom Craddick. Strauss owes them nothing.

All this sounds depressingly similar to the whining going on in Washington by Republicans. Republicans complained that Democrats weren't voting for their amendments to the stimulus package. President Obama told them, "I won."

It looks to me like the losers in Washington and Austin both have a naive understanding of what bipartisanship is and is not.

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Statewide Ban on Smoking?

Jim Mitchell, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, notes that there are 24 states and 28 Texas cities that have public smoking ordinances in place. Mitchell lobbies for the Texas legislature to follow suit, leaving no exceptions for types of businesses or service areas, leveling the playing field, making sure no business anywhere in the state is at a competitive disadvantage.

Needless to say, readers quickly took sides. Most took the position of "Trey Garrison" who said, "Smoking is smelly and stupid and unhealthy -- but no one makes me go to a place where people smoke."

Smoking is a health hazard not only for customers, but for workers. We have workplace safety rules for many things. This is just one more. There's a legitimate debate whether the health hazard is serious enough to regulate. There's a legitimate debate whether the ban's effect would drive businesses to close. This is a question of where to draw the line, not a matter of fundamental rights, in my opinion. Let the people decide this one.