March 23, 2007

UPDATE: Muslim women will have to remove face coverings to vote in Quebec election. QUEBEC (CP) - Muslim women will have to remove their face coverings if they want to vote in Monday’s Quebec election. Quebec’s chief returning officer has reversed an earlier decision and is now telling Muslim women who wear a niqab to show their faces when they vote. Facing threats from ordinary citizens that they would show up at polling stations wearing masks, Marcel Blanchet said in Quebec City Friday that voting day must proceed without incident.   CAIR-CAN: Veiled Muslim Women Permitted to Vote Muslim women wearing the niqab or burka - veils that hide the face entirely - will be allowed to vote in the Quebec elections, without showing their face. That's the directive from the Director general of elections, despite the fact it goes against the electoral law. Typically a voter is to present photo-I.D. But women wearing a full-face veil will have to either swear that they are who they say they are - or have an adult with them verifying their identity.   Why not make sure a female commisionaire is always available and a screen for privacy so that the identity can be visually confirmed?  The article sates that the same women reveal their faces at banks, provided it’s in front of a woman.   Why this special exception now? Oh right, because this isn't really about voting rights.   9:38:30 AM

Fifteen Royal Navy personnel have been seized by Iranian naval warships in Iraqi territorial waters. 5:56:00 AM